The Seventh Quarter Quell
by Ember Ardent Flame
Summary: It's the 175th Hunger Games; the seventh Quarter Quell. Seven is a lucky number, right? But everything is backwards in Panem, a place where freedom is viewed as rebellion and the slaughter of children as a necessary sacrifice. This is the story of fifteen-year-old Wolfgang Canis. But Wolfgang is no ordinary boy. How fitting that this is no ordinary Hunger Games. Not a SYOT.
1. No Ordinary Boy

**Author: This is my first Hunger Games story, guys. So bear with me.**

* * *

Who am I? That's easy. I'm Wolfgang Canis of District Six. I'm fifteen years old. I'm the son of Ulrich and Kris Canis. I have an older brother; Lupine Canis. I also have a younger brother; Randolph Canis. Lupine is only fifteen minutes older than me. And Randolph is only twenty-two minutes younger. We're identical triplets. Triplets are rare in Panem. It's even more rare for the mother to survive giving birth to them; not that the second of those oddities applies to me. My mother, Kris Canis, never got to hold any of her sons. I guess I should be sad about it, but I'm not. I never knew her, so it doesn't bother me.

District Six is the most geographically varied district in all of Panem. We have to be, after all. We're the transportation district, so we have to test the vehicles we design in all kinds of conditions. I happen to live where the north meets the sea and the east meets the forbidden forest. We're not supposed to go in there; not that my family really pays all that much attention to the rules. We're different from the others, so the so called 'peacekeepers' leave us alone. But I'll get to that later.

My father builds motorcycles. He doesn't design them or anything; he just helps put them together. It's not a very glamorous job, but it's a living. Or at least that's what he says. I don't like the town or the factory at which he works. The fumes assault my nose and my lungs during the daytime hours, so much so that I've learned to hold my breath whenever I go into town for school. I suppose it's impressive that I've trained myself to not have to breathe for twenty minutes, at least in the eyes of others. I know that Randolph thinks it's cool. Lupine just thinks I'm insane for doing something so pointless. But Lupine thinks that you can only learn at school and from books. I've figured out that you can learn from life itself. The two of us have given up hope that Randolph will ever learn anything at all.

For identical triplets, we are certainly different. Lupine likes the classes at school in which we do nothing but sit and listen and draw; Motorist Design class. He keeps talking about all of the things he learned when he took Advanced Chemistry and Calculus and how he's one day going to design a vehicle that runs on something more efficient and blah blah blah. Lupine is considered the smart one because he does better in the rudimentary courses like math and science. Lupine is also the most logical and level-headed of the three of us. He doesn't show much emotion; but that's less of Lupine and more of the Canis family trait.

If Lupine is the level-headed, intelligent one, then Randolph is his exact opposite. Randolph hates school. He doesn't like to sit still _at all_. But he's the only social one in our family. Randolph actually has friends. And if the sound of their laughter and the smiles on their faces that can be noticed from across the room whenever he makes a joke is any indication, people actually enjoy my little brother's company. He always has been the hilarious and goofy one. I guess somebody had to be in our family. Dad isn't, Lupine's definitely not, and I don't think that I fit that description either.

I'm in the middle of my two brothers – in both age and personality. I'm smart too, just not in the way that Lupine is. I'm pretty average as far as math and science go. And I have no interest in Motorist Design. But you give me any engine and I can put it together for you. Give me a broken vehicle and I can find the problem, and most likely fix it if I have the right parts. It's like a great puzzle that I have to solve; which piece goes where? And I like using my hands. I get an amazing thrill once I start the machine up and hear the motor hum. My dad says that means I'll end up in an assembly job like his. That's not so bad, except for the horrid fumes. But I think I'd rather work as a mechanic than an engine assembler. Making engines is important, but I really like fixing them more.

My uncle Abel tests boats for his factory. For the longest time, I wanted his job. What's more perfect that going out and floating around in a boat for five hours at a time? And to get paid for doing it! That's even better. But I know I'll be assigned my job based on my skills just like everyone else in District Six, and I'm better with land vehicles than boats, so I got over that dream. But Uncle Abel is nice and brings me along on the yachts sometimes. He makes the excuse that he needs to test if the Capitol's party boats can actually hold passengers. My father laughs and says that I alone won't be enough to test how much weight the vessel can hold, but he lets me go anyway. Lupine always turns Abel down because of homework. And Randolph on a boat? Let's just say that Abel's job is to make sure the boat _doesn't_ sink.

So, I go out on the water with Uncle Abel about once a week. I have learned to swim too. There's nothing like that feeling. After all of the things that bother me and seem to weigh me down, I enjoy floating in the water to remind myself of how light those troubles truly are.

What bothers me? That's kind of complicated. Well, I guess it truly isn't, but it seems that way. You see, there's this guy at my school named Ereed Tys. He's a no good, arrogant son of a peacekeeper. And then there's his freaky girlfriend, Hemi Rev. Hemi, well, she has a thing for me. – No, that's putting it lightly. – She _stalks_ me. And I guess that I don't have to mention that Ereed isn't happy about it. He seems to have made it his own personal mission to make my life miserable. And he succeeds most days. I don't know why he bothers with me. It's not like I return the affections of that weird girl. In truth, I never can have a light and meaningless relationship like any other teenage boy can. That's because of what I am.

What am I? That's a long story, but I suppose I'll tell it.

After the successful Mockingjay Rebellion, the people of Panem set up something called a 'democracy'. I'm not sure what that means, but whatever it means obviously failed, because that system lasted for all of two years. Then a war broke out and lasted for five years. Of course, the Capitol won. According to the annual speech before the Reaping, it was because the resolve of the rebels wasn't great enough for them to take the ultimate measures. But I've heard my Uncle Abel's side of the story too – he said it was probably because the rebels had something called 'compassion' that the Capitol lacked. When I asked him what 'compassion' was, he said it was that feeling I get toward the tributes that go to the Games every year.

Anyway, the Capitol wasn't afraid to take these 'ultimate measures'. They genetically engineered warriors in a lab by mixing the DNA of humans with the DNA of animals. These 'mutations' or 'mutts', as the rebels called them, were able to appear as humans and go on espionage missions for the Capitol. They could identify with humans because they had the same emotions; they were a new breed of mutts that was more human than animal for once. If the Capitol had chosen just any animal, their spies may have turned against them. But the Capitol chose wolves; creatures that are known for their loyalty. And even though the wolf-mutts began to agree with the rebels and want to help them, their canine loyalty would not allow such treason to the Capitol.

And so, the Capitol conquered Panem again. They held seven Hunger Games that year to make up for lost time, and as a way to punish the rebels. Since then, the districts have never once tried to rebel. Being defeated and humiliated twice was enough, it seems. Plus, wolf-mutts still live among the people of the Districts. Most are still as loyal to the Capitol as were their ancestors, and the humans don't want to provoke the wrath of a creature stronger than them. But not all wolf-mutts support the Capitol's crooked ways.

How do I know? I'm one of them. Or really, halfway one of them; my mother was a human. But my dad is a purebred mutt. And that's why the peacekeepers go easy on us; they think that we love the Capitol. They're wrong though. But Ulrich Canis says it would be foolish to tell them otherwise. Because of his heritage (and assumed loyalty), my father gets one day off a week to spend with us. Lupine spends that day doing homework, trying to get ahead in Motorist Design. Sadly, he cares about that more than his family. But on those days, Randolph and I go with our father and break rules. We hunt.

I love going to the woods. It's not hard where we live. The electric fence that surrounds most of the district ends about a mile away from the shore of the beach, as electricity and salt water don't mix without creating something volatile. But it's open to allow boat tasters like Abel to access the water. Our house is about a mile and a quarter away from the sand, so we don't have to walk far to get to this place where the fence runs out. When I'm in the forest, I can truly be myself.

I love morphing, I truly do. I'm only half wolf-mutt, so my morph doesn't change much. My nails and teeth lengthen and sharpen. A black pair of canine ears sprouts from the top of my head. A black, bushy tail becomes an extension out of the bottom of my spine, right above my butt. My eyes change from green to gold. According to my father, my senses are always sharper than a human's. But I wouldn't know how to compare them. I mean, I've always been a wolf-mutt. It's just part of who I am, so I guess I don't know what humans' senses are like. But I notice that an extra pair of ears does improve my hearing. Lupine and Randolph morph the same way. Except Lupine doesn't morph very often.

But you should see what happens when my dad morphs. His entire body is covered in black, fur-like hair. His face changes from that of a man to a wolf, and suddenly he is a canine creature that can somehow walk on only two legs, his furry hands able to carry weapons. He taught Randolph and me to hunt. He taught Lupine too, back when we were all younger and Lupine was still excited about his wolf-mutt half. I don't know why, but he stopped liking it.

Randolph, on the other hand, was born for days like these. He enjoys morphing and hunting more than anything else. He thrives in the wolf-mutt half of himself and seems only vaguely interested in living out his life as a human.

And me? I like both. I can be both human and canine. It's wonderful, even if my wolf genes make romantic flings impossible, as wolves mate for life. I don't know what I would do if I had to choose one side of me over the other. And quite frankly, I hope I'm never asked.


	2. No Ordinary Games

Tomorrow is the reaping for the Hunger Games, and I can't stand being cooped up in the house. I look over to where Lupine sits hunched over the desk in the living room, sketching out yet another design. His shoulder-length black hair – a mirror image of my own – falls forward into his face as he frowns in concentration, his black eyebrows furrowing over his dark green eyes. I want to do something fun, but I know that Lupine won't be up for it. Rule one for dealing with my older brother: Don't bother him while he's sketching.

So, naturally, I look to Randolph. He's sprawled out on his stomach on the wooden floor and trying to focus on his Algebra 1 homework. I know what you're thinking. He's fifteen, and he's still in Algebra 1. Most everyone in our district is through with Pre-Calculus by now. It's embarrassing that he's so behind, as he can't even take a basic engineering course yet. And most of the times I'm a good brother and help him focus on his schoolwork. But today, I'm simply too restless. I want to morph. I want to run. I want to hunt. But I don't want to go alone.

"Hey, Randolph," I say, and my younger brother looks up at me where I sit on the couch. "Do you want to go hunting?"

Randolph smiles and nods, his green eyes sparkling in relief. He begins to rise from the floor, but Lupine's voice stops him. "Randolph, if you get held back in mathematics again this year, father will have your tail."

Randolph's smile vanishes and he sinks back to the floor. "Sorry, Wolfgang. I want to keep my tail. I happen to like it."

From his place at the desk, Lupine snickers. I sigh and stand up from the couch. It seems that I'll have to go alone after all. "Fine," I moan grumpily. "But if something happens to me out there, I'm blaming you, Lupine."

Lupine ignores me and keeps sketching. I walk out the front door.

* * *

The morph is slow and unhurried today, and I relish every minute of it. Euphoria takes over as I take off into the trees. My ears hear everything. My eyes miss nothing. And it isn't long until I'm running after a rabbit. I pounce on it and catch it in my hands, but I don't kill it. I stroke it gently a few times before letting it go. I like the chase mostly. The meat is tasty too, but I don't need the extra food today. District Six isn't as poor as some of the other districts, though we aren't rich either. The Capitol knows that we need to be well fed in order to think clearly enough to design them nicer cars and things, so we rarely go without. Be we aren't spoiled like those Capitol kiss-ups in District One.

I spy a squirrel running by and begin to chase it. I have it treed within seconds and I scramble up the branches as quickly as I can, after my prey. I hear a voice and I freeze, listening. The squirrel gets away, but I don't care anymore because I'm so focused on that sound.

There's a girly giggle, and then words. "Ereed, stop it," says Hemi's voice. But she doesn't sound like she wants him to stop at all. "Do you know how much trouble we could get in for even being out here?" The girl sounds impressed, and I catch sight of Ereed's chestnut hair as he passes beneath my tree. Hemi is two steps behind him with her blonde, wavy locks.

"Relax, baby," Ereed soothes. "Who's going to punish us? My dad is a peacekeeper. He can pull strings. And he probably won't have to. Even if we do get caught, which we won't, the peacekeepers won't record my actions. It would look bad on them if a peacekeeper's son got caught doing something illegal, now wouldn't it?" He stops under my tree and turns to face her.

Ah, crap. Now I'm the one who's treed.

"As – as long as you're sure, Ereed," Hemi says shyly. "I don't want to get in trouble." It doesn't take my keen wolf-mutt hearing to tell that she is lying. The girl is ecstatic to be out here. I can smell her adrenaline and pheromones from twenty feet up. She is embarrassing herself.

"We won't," Ereed comforts. "You trust me, don't you?"

"Mm-hmm," Hemi nods in reply.

"Good," Ereed smirks. He leans in close to her face and kisses her. She squeals in delight and responds. I can hear her kiss back. I can see her kiss back.

So now I'm left with a choice. Do I stay up here and listen to them get all hot and heavy? Or do I come down and spoil their moment and get Ereed even more ticked off at me? I decide upon neither, because the squirrel comes back. The chase is on again, and it's a decent enough distraction. I begin to scramble after the squirrel until I hear Hemi mumble, "Do you hear something?"

I freeze again. But this time my foot misses its hold and slips, and I end up falling. The leaves around me rustle as I crash through the branches. I land hard on the ground and it hurts badly. I can't help it. I yelp like an injured dog. It's a good thing I'm half wolf-mutt. A fall like that probably would have killed a purebred human, or at least have left them severely wounded.

I look up and notice that Ereed is glaring at me. "Wolfgang Canis," he growls through gritted teeth. And suddenly he's the one that seems more feral, regardless of the animal appendages that sprout from my body.

I chuckle nervously. "W- What are you talking about? I'm Randolph," I stutter. But the lie is totally unconvincing on my lips.

"And I'm the president," Ereed snaps. "What are you trying to do, Canis? Ruin my date?" His hazel eyes are wild and angry. How does he always manage to make me feel weaker than him?

"No way!" I shout immediately. "I was just out for a run to loosen up for… tomorrow. And then I heard voices."

"So your first instinct was to climb a tree?" he raises a skeptical eyebrow at me.

"Sweetie, leave him alone," Hemi sticks up for me, and that ticks Ereed off even more.

He glances at her quickly before glaring back at me. Then his mouth settles into a smirk and his eyes light up. All of a sudden, I'm confused. Until he speaks, this is. "I can get you into so much trouble for this," he says victoriously. The sound makes me sick at my stomach. "You're not supposed to be here."

"Neither are you," I shoot back. I figure that I look like an idiot sitting on the forest floor and cowering in fear like some little pup, so I stand up and grin, displaying my morph-sharpened fangs. "If you tell your father about me, he'll want to know how you knew I was out here. And then you'll have to tell him that you were out here too. Face it, Ereed. You're stuck." I am enjoying this so much.

"You mutt of mutts!" Ereed bursts. "You won't be finding this funny come tomorrow!"

"So you're going to tell on me anyways?" I ask, raising my eyebrows. "You really think the peacekeepers will do a thing about a wolf-mutt in the woods? I'm sure they prefer me to release my animal side out here, rather than walking around and releasing it on random citizens of District 6."

Ereed starts to look nervous, and I know I have him. It's always a battle of wits with us, and I usually win. It only provokes him more for next time, but the worst he ever does is calling me names. Why am I so scared of him, anyway? _He_ should be scared of _me_. But I shouldn't be thinking like that. If I let my wolf pride run away with itself, I'll end up killing him. And then my entire family would suffer for it. No. I must control myself.

Ereed glares at me one last time before saying, "Let's go, Hemi." He turns and leaves, and just like that, I've won again. But Hemi doesn't follow him. She just stands there and ogles me lustfully. I wrinkle my nose at her and Ereed snaps, "I said come on, Hemi!" The blue-eyed-blonde pouts and rushes after her hot-headed boyfriend. I shake my head. Those two deserve each other. I morph back before going home.

* * *

The television is turned on that night. There is an announcement from President Ice. She stands and smiles into the camera. "As you all know, this year is going to be no ordinary Hunger Games. This year is the 175th Hunger Games, and that means that it is time for the Quarter Quell." Ah crap. I had forgotten that it's Quarter Quell this year. "This is the seventh Quarter Quell for the nation of Panem. And every Quarter Quell adds a small twist to the traditional Hunger Games." The president continues to describe the events of past Quarter Quells. "In the first Quarter Quell, each district had to vote for who would be their tribute, as a reminder that the peoples' own actions caused their fall. In the second Quarter Quell, we had double the usual number of tributes, to remind you all that the cost of rebellion is high. In the third Quarter Quell, as a reminder that even your strongest cannot defeat the Capitol, we drew the tributes from your existing pools of victors. On the Centennial Quell – that is, the fourth Quarter Quell – we reminded you that the change is bad, as each tribute was surgically altered for their harm before the games." I balk a bit at that one. How sick are these Capitol people? "For the fifth Quarter Quell, we reaped only twelve-year-olds, to remind you that even those with the odds in their favor may not always get a favorable outcome. And for the sixth we reaped only eighteen-year-olds, as a reminder that just when you think the punishment for your rebellion is over, your odds get worse." She pauses and a child comes out onto the stage, holding an open box full of yellowed cards. President Ice grins and pulls out a card. "And this year's Quarter Quell, for the 175th Hunger Games shall be…" she pauses again for suspense, and then resumes. "As a reminder that those good souls loyal to the Capitol will betray your rebellions, there are two small changes this year. The first is that we will not be allowing volunteers at the Reapings this Quarter Quell. The second is that the child who is reaped will not participate in the Games. Instead, they must choose someone else from their district to take their place."

I sincerely hope that Ereed Tys does not get reaped.


	3. No Ordinary Reaping

The sun hasn't even come up yet, but I'm awake. The whole District is awake, forced by law to watch the Reapings in other Districts. In most of these other Districts, it's morning already. This is because the planet is round and spins counter-clockwise. Morning comes earlier for the Districts in the east, even though it comes at exactly the same time. I know that makes no sense, but I'm too tired to think straight right now.

They're starting with District 12, like they do every year. They go in reverse order of our numbers, and every Reaping takes about an hour because they televise the boring speech that is spoken in every District. Why do they do this? Everyone hears the speech once at their own Reaping, and that's bad enough. Why must we hear it twelve times? It's exasperating.

I yawn and stare at the screen as the speech finally ends and the true purpose for watching finally begins. The handler for District 12 smiles and says in her weird Capitol accent, "Ladies first." She walks over to the bowl filled with pink slips of paper, and I notice in disgust that her outfit is alive. Snakes writhe over her arms and neck; small snakes, but still… snakes. Her unnaturally orange hair is curled into tight ringlets, and two more serpents drift in and out of these ringlets, as if they were trained to slither through hoops. And perhaps they were.

She dips her hand into the bowl and pulls out a name. "Cavey Darx," she grins. I watch as a girl that seems to be around twelve or thirteen makes her way to the stage. She has black hair, olive skin and is deathly thin.

"Now for the gentlemen," says the handler as she crosses the stage to the bowl filled with blue slips of paper. She grabs one from the top and reads the name aloud. "Pritchard Hayes." I watch the redheaded boy make his way onto the stage. He's tall and looks strong. He's probably around eighteen.

"Now," the handler grins wickedly, "for this year's Quarter Quell twist." She walks back over to the young girl and bends down to her. "Who are you going to send to the Hunger Games, dear?" she asks in a sickly sweet voice.

The girl breaks down crying. This lasts for about five minutes before she finally blubbers out, "Mace Mikels." Two peacekeepers take Cavey back to her row, and a fourteen-year-old blonde girl steps shakily onto the stage.

The handler walks over to the male that stands on the opposite end of the stage. "Alright Pritchard," she coos, "tell me who you are sending the one-hundred-and-seventy-fifth Hunger Games."

Pritchard straightens his back and says confidently, "Coal Black." Another boy around eighteen comes to the edge of the stage. He has black hair and black eyes and olive-colored skin. He glares defiantly up at Pritchard and watches as the red-head descends the stage with a smirk.

From somewhere in the audience, a girl screams. "No! Coal! NO!" The cameras turn as a girl breaks from the pack of seventeen-year-olds and rushes toward the new tribute, her brunette hair flying out behind her. But before she makes it, she is grabbed by peacekeepers. She struggles and then seems to think better of it. But as they take her away, she shouts, "Coal, I love you! Pritchard Hayes, you did that on purpose. I will never care an ounce for your horrid soul, no matter what happens to Coal. I hate you, Pritchard Hayes! I will forever hate you for this!"

Coal mounts the stage and the handler raises his left arm along with the right arm of the girl named Mace. "We have our male and female tribute for District 12!"

Well, that was certainly dramatic. The screen switches to District Eleven, and thankfully, they are already partway into the dull speech. I take this opportunity to rise from the couch. "Where are you going?" my father asks, his caramel brown eyes shooting me a warning. Those are the one trait about his appearance that the three of us didn't inherit.

"I'm going to plan my Reaping outfit. I've already heard this boring stuff," I answer with a gesture to the screen. My father nods, permitting my actions. I hurry to the bedroom that Randolph and I share.

As I stare at the contents of my closet, I decide what I want to wear. I don't care to look like everyone else will today, with their itchy suits and other formal wear. I've put up with it for most Reapings, but today I'm restless, and I want to stand out. It must be because of the Quarter Quell. I only have five options – six, if you count my pajamas. But I don't want to stand out _that_ much. I rule out the formal clothes and the plain ones. This automatically decides my pants: A pair of black jeans that I've only worn once because the first time I wore them, Hemi made a comment about how good they looked on me and Ereed got mad at me again. There's a red polo shirt or a black, leather jacket. For some reason, I think the latter will make me look tough, so I decide on it. But I can't wear just a jacket. I need a shirt under it. But none of my shirts look tough. So, I rummage around in Randolph's drawer and find the perfect thing. It's a white tank top, and he amazingly hasn't gotten some sort of food stain on it.

It's then that Randolph peeks his head into the room. "Come on," he says, "they're about to draw the District Elev- Hey! That's mine!"

"Relax," I roll my eyes. "I'm only going to be wearing it for a few hours."

Randolph thinks for a moment. (I know. Randolph thinking? It seems I'm not the only one acting weird today.) Then he nods before grabbing my wrist and practically dragging me back to the living room. I barely have time to toss the tank top on my bed before we leave the room.

We seem to have missed the drawing, because a male handler stands on the stage with a male and female tribute. Hey walks over to the male and asks for his choice. "Barley Reed," the boy replies. A dark-skinned boy that looks younger than twelve – even though I know he can't be – walks up to the stage and takes the other boy's place.

When the handler asks the girl for her choice, she whispers into his ear. The man then straightens and says, "Persimmon Picket." The tributes switch out and the Reaping is over.

And then there is another long speech in District Ten. I stare out the window and watch the sun come up. I am so bored. When the names are finally drawn, it seems that I have missed it again, because Lupine has to poke me awake. "Pay attention. This is important," my older brother chides.

The girl chooses first this time. She calls out, "Lila Shepherd." And it seems that the whole girls' side breaks out into laughter and spontaneous baas. A girl around age fifteen makes her way to the stage with her platinum blonde hair that curls wildly and sticks up very much like a sheep's wool. The girl blushes as she stands there and listens to her peers bleating like a flock of sheep.

The guy picks now, and he chooses "Reggie Hayfield." The new tribute has to be pushed forward. He has gangly arms and legs, and a rather large nose. He stares around him like he has no idea what it happening and I instantly feel the compassion that Uncle Abel told me about. This guy is obviously a half-wit.

The screen switches to District Nine and the overtly boring speech is given yet again. I start picking at the couch until my father tells me to stop. I then play a little game with myself and see how long I can hold my breath without puffing out my cheeks. I reach twenty-one and a half minutes. That's my new record. Randolph is bored too. I can tell because he starts annoying Lupine. Randolph sits on the floor by our older brother's feet and flicks his ankle. "Stop," Lupine growls. But Randolph just flicks him again, harder. "Stop." But Lupine just doesn't understand that his annoyance is only entertaining Randolph, and my younger brother flicks him again. "Stop it! What the heck is wrong with you?" Lupine yells and stands up. Randolph starts laughing, and I just roll my eyes.

Our father's voice cuts thorough the chaos. "Both of you stop it. They're drawing the names."

Lupine sits back down and scowls at the TV set. Randolph grins to himself and turns his eyes back to the screen. I watch as the male handler draws a boy's name. "Rudy Wheat." The tribute comes up onto the stage and stands as the man crosses to the other bowl. He pulls out a pink slip and reads, "Tally Green."

The handler asks Rudy for his selection. "Kenny Chaff," he answers. A pudgy lad with messy brown hair steps out of the thirteen-year-old section, and there's my compassion again. He probably won't make it past the bloodbath.

Then the handler walks over and inquires the same of Tally. "Millie Rice," she says. And then a drop-dead gorgeous specimen of a human female steps out of the crowd from the area of the sixteen-year-olds. I bite my tongue to control myself, but Randolph is already panting. Millie Rice has auburn hair and deep brown eyes and a figure that – well, got Randolph panting.

District Eight has yet another boring speech, but father tells us to go groom ourselves for our district's Reaping. I comb my hair and wash my face before brushing my teeth. That's all of the grooming any of us need. We haven't started growing facial hair yet. But if Ulrich's face is any indication, we will someday.

I decide to eat something, so I walk into the kitchen and grab the first thing I see; a banana. I eat it slowly, and by the time I'm finished, the District 8 Reaping has started. I rush into the living room just in time to see the female tribute walk onto the stage. She looks to be about fifteen.

The handler draws a name from the bowl of males. "Gunny Porter," she reads. A male from the front row walks onto the stage. He is tall and I know from his placement that he's eighteen. He has dark brown hair.

The handler walks back over to the girl. "Tell me who you're sending to the Quarter Quell," she smiles.

The girl replies, "Selkie Needle." The tribute comes up to replace her, and I notice that Selkie only has one arm. What is wrong with these people? Why do they send their weakest to be massacred?

When the handler walks back over to Gunny, he whispers something to her and points to the bowl. She looks surprised, but nods. Gunny Porter walks over to the bowl of names and draws out a blue slip of paper. He reads the name, "Seamus Thread." A boy exits the section of sixteen-year-olds and curses. He goes up to the platform and stands on the stage, his golden hair gleaming in the sunlight. He glares at the crowd with defiant blue-green eyes. He's ticked, I can tell. His tanned jaw is locked and I expect to hear the grinding of teeth. But he looks strong.

The screen switches to District 7 and my father looks at me pointedly. I look back. "What?" He glances down from my face to my body and back again. I look down and see nothing out of the ordinary. There are my pajamas. What's wrong? I look over at my brothers quizzically and realize that they're already dressed. Lupine wears a full suit, and Randolph looks like a dork with a white dress shirt, bowtie, and suspenders. I'm supposed to be wearing my clothes by now.

I rush into my bedroom and fling my pajama pants to the floor. I yank the T-shirt over my head and throw it down too. I pull on the black jeans and Randolph's tank top before grabbing the black leather jacket out of the closet. As I stuff my arms into the sleeves, I notice that it's a bit tighter than the last time I wore this. I realize that I must have developed more muscle than I thought. But whatever; it will make me look strong. The rest of the jacket still fits perfectly.

When I exit the room, Dad looks at me again with that pointed stare. He exhales in frustration before saying, "Well, we don't have time for you to change now. It's time to head to the city."

* * *

When we arrive at the big Reaping stage in the middle of our District 6 capital city, we barely make it in time. The female handler stands on the stage and begins the same boring speech in her quirky accent. I stare up at the clouds and count them, but that's difficult because they're moving in the slight breeze. So then I focus on listening to the others around me as I stand in my place between my brothers. Thankfully, Ereed is fourteen. He doesn't stand anywhere near us on Reaping days.

As I focus on the sounds, I hear whispers from a few rows in front of me. "Man, this is so boring," the first guy says. "Yeah," the second replies, "I wish they'd just get it over with already."

I grin and focus on a different direction. I hear a girl whine about how hot it is and complain that she's sweating. I switch focus-points again and hear the voice of a young boy whimper as his friends console him. "Your name has only been in one time, Mac. The odds of them reaping you are low."

"But we're not getting reaped this year. We're getting chosen," he whimpers back.

"Who would choose you?" one of his friends says soothingly. "Or any of us? We're only twelve."

Mac argues again in a shaky voice, "But that boy from District Eleven was only twelve too." His friends say nothing after that.

Then I hear it; the telltale rustling of papers. I close my eyes and hold my breath as the woman reads out, "Maxine Wrench." I hear footsteps as a girl makes her way to the stage; footsteps as the handler crosses the stage to the other bowl of names. The papers rustle, and then stop. I'm still holding my breath as I strain my ears to hear the sound of the paper unfold. I begin to plead in my mind, over and over and over again. _Please don't say Ereed Tys. Please don't say Ereed Tys. Please don't say Ereed Tys._ I hear the woman take a breath to speak. And then she reads the name. "Ereed Tys."

My breath whooshes out of me with an audible sound as I lean my head forward into my hands. "I'm doomed," I say. "I'm dead. I am so dead."

I look up and see Ereed mount the stage. The handler walks back over to Maxine Wrench, a girl I don't even know. "Who are you sending to the Hunger Games?" the woman asks her.

Maxine replies with, "Octane Rev." Oh no. Octane is Hemi's older sister. And yeah, Octane has a reputation for being a stuck-up know-it-all. But she doesn't deserve a death sentence for that. And it is a death sentence. District Six has only had eighteen victors in the past century. Octane takes the stage with her chestnut hair that isn't at all like her sister's blonde locks. But they share the same blue eyes.

The handler, whose name I know to be Chortle Lowes, walks over to Ereed. Her skin is dyed purple and her hair has been styled into something that vaguely resembles a helicopter. Last year, it was car. She is known for her enthusiasm for District 6. Chortle asks Ereed, "Who will be the male tribute for District Six?" She smiles at him brightly.

I know. I already know what he's going to say. And that's when Ereed Tys looks out into the crowd, meets my eyes, and smirks. He answers her question with, "Wolfgang Canis."

A snarl erupts from the back of the crowd, and from somewhere among the girls I can hear Hemi shout in horror. Poor girl, she's losing her sister and her object of affection all in one day. Ereed doesn't leave the stage until I'm on it. I survey the crowd and see my father struggling against eight peacekeepers. He's snarling and growling and his eyes are flashing wildly, and I am aware that he is about to morph.

That's when Uncle Abel lays a hand on my father's shoulder. Dad looks at him, and Abel shakes his head. Dad stops struggling. I watch Ulrich Canis collapse to the ground and begin to cry, and it scares me. I have never seen my father cry. Not once. And yet here he is weeping on the pavement as his brother stares up at me and mouths, "Go get 'em."

And then it happens. My father lets out a long, keening howl. And like all wolves do when they hear a howl, the others answer. Uncle Abel raises his head and bellows out the deep and feral sound. My brothers raise their heads in unison and howl for me. A girl with dirty-blonde hair who I don't even know shrieks out a high-pitched canine cry. Wolf-mutts from all over the crowd holler and whoop and howl. The beauty of it all moves me, and I realize that tears are streaming down my face. _So much for looking_ _tough._ I lean back my head and keen along with the rest of my kind. And then it all suddenly ends, and the silence is deafening. A few humans shudder involuntarily. I stand and survey the crowd until a peacekeeper grabs my arm and leads me into the District Hall.


	4. No Ordinary Farewell

**Author: OMG! THANK YOU LITTLESPOTTEDCAT! You are the first one to review this story, so you get kudos. Let's see here… *looks at shelf of possible virtual rewards* You get a free squirrel, as you are my first follower to transition from TMM to THG. Please feed him acorns and don't let him bite you. **

**And I will be Captain Obvious for a moment here and tell everybody this: I don't own the Hunger games. Suzanne Collins does. If I owned the Hunger Games, Finnick would still be alive.**

**I do own Wolfgang and his family though!**

* * *

I wait in the room they in which they put me. It's here that I will say my farewell to my family. As bad as this may sound, I hope that Hemi is too busy saying good-bye to Octane. I don't want her coming in here and declaring some undying love for me, especially when she's too young to know what love is. Heck, I'm too young to know what love is. And I'm two years older than she is.

The door opens and in walk; Ulrich, Lupine, Randolph and Abel. My dad isn't crying anymore, and this comforts me. He's always been so strong, even after losing our mother -his mate. He can't stop being strong now that I'm leaving. He leans against the wall and morphs, his entire body now covered in black fur, his canine eyes glaring at the door as if daring the peacekeepers to try to take me. That's the father I know, and I love him for it even if he isn't saying anything. He never was a man of many words, and I like him like that; laconic.

Uncle Abel surprises me when he morphs as well. His fur is light brown - like his human hair - as he stands next to my father. The two of them are like watching sentries, never taking their eyes off of the door.

I turn to Randolph. "It appears I was wrong," I teased, gripping the front of the white tank top. "Do you want your shirt back?"

Randolph shakes his head solemnly. "No," he answers, staring at the floor. I've never seen him so subdued. He needs to smile or make a joke or… something! But he doesn't.

Lupine steps close to me and whispers in my ear, "Quick, switch me outfits. I'm the smarter one and I will have the better chance at winning. We're identical so they won't notice."

I step back. "Ereed will notice. He can somehow tell us apart. And Hemi will notice too. And I can't pretend to be you, with all of your knowledge from classes that I've never taken. No. I have to go."

Lupine nods. "I understand." He steps in close again and hugs me. Lupine is actually hugging me! Today is a day of firsts. Lupine is being nice, and Randolph is thinking and _not_ making jokes. Dad has cried. And me? I'm going to the Hunger Games.

Lupine and Randolph leave after that. My father morphs back and gives me a hug. "You can have a token in the arena," he tells me. "Here." He hands me a necklace made of steel. The pendant is the face of a wolf in the middle of a square. It has two tiny green emeralds for eyes. "It was your mother's," he tells me. "And before that, it was mine. Take it, and never forget who you are." As I take the necklace from his hands, my father wipes at his eyes, and I know he's struggling not to cry again. He straightens his back and leaves me alone with Uncle Abel, who has also morphed back into his human form.

"Hey," Abel says gruffly, "I need you to promise me something."

I look up at him in surprise. "What is it?"

"I need you to try your best out there. Don't you ever give up, do you hear me? You have a better chance than the others, and you know why. So you have to be strong out there. Show them what we can do. And most importantly, come home again…. Your father puts on a brave face for you boys, but he's not as strong as you think he is. You have to win this thing. Promise me that."

I just stare back at him. I'm no idiot. I can't promise him that. I won't promise him that. I will do my best, and I will utilize my gifts, but I won't promise him that I'll come back alive. Why not? The answer is simple. This is the Hunger Games.

* * *

As I get on the train, I look down at the pendant around my neck. I am a wolf-mutt. I can do this. And as I sit down in the seat, I smile. It's ironic. I've wanted Ereed to get reaped for the past two years. And then he finally does, and who goes to the Games? Me. _Dumb Quarter Quell._

Around ten minutes later, Chortle finds me on that red booth, staring out the window. "There you are, Wolfgang! I have been looking all over for you. Come along. It's time for you to meet your mentor."

I follow Chortle through the train. We come to a dining room where delicacies of many kinds sit on an elaborate table. The smell reminds me that I've eaten only a banana this morning. But I wait for Chortle to sit before I take my place across from Octane. A woman sits next to Hemi's sister and introduces herself as Helena, and I wait for my mentor who I saw sitting up on the stage. And then he enters the room; six foot three and bulging with muscle, a wild fire in his brown eyes. A crop of brunette ringlets twist about as his hair.

"Are you my tribute?" he asks in a voice so deep and gruff that it almost sounds like he's growling.

"I suppose I am," I nod at him.

"You suppose?" This time he really is growling, I think. "You either are or you aren't."

I raise an eyebrow. "That depends on your reasoning. I am not your tribute as in I do not belong to you – am not your property - and therefore am not 'yours' in the purest manner of the word. But as I assume – or suppose – that you are using the term to mean 'the tribute that you will train'. Then I assume – or suppose – that I am yours in such a manner of abbreviated speaking."

He raises his eyebrows. "So we have a smart one, do we? Good. You might make it past the bloodbath. But you never can tell for sure until you start training them."

This guy doesn't seem like the brightest taillight on the car, if you know what I mean. He makes Randolph seem smart, and I'm kind of worried about my chances if this guy is going to mentor me.

"So, what's your name, tribute? Or should I just call you tribute?" he asks me as he sits down at the table and fills his plate with a mountain of food.

"Wolfgang," I tell him. "Wolfgang Canis."

"I'm Ford," he answers. "Ford Truck." He pauses for a moment while he stuffs his mouth full of some kind of white, mushy-looking stuff. When he swallows, he looks at me. "Well, are you going to eat or aren't you?"

I stare back at him, and he stares back at me, and so I just continue to stare back, and he makes a funny face. That's when I smile and take a hunk of something that smells an awful lot like meat from one of the dishes. I eat some of it, and then try some of that white stuff that Ford was eating. He tells me that it's called "rice pudding". It's pretty good, but nothing beats meat. There are some mashed potatoes that I also eat. I follow that with roasted carrots. And then Ford and I begin to talk about the other competition in the Games this year. I tell him that I think Coal Black may be a threat, and he laughs and says that no one from District 12 ever wins. I'm about to retort that – according to history – there was once a Hunger Games where _both_ tributes from District 12 won.

It's then that Octane stands up from the table and stares daggers at me. "I have no idea why my sister likes you."

I stare at her for a moment, wondering at the cause of her sudden outburst. Then I shrug. "I have no idea why she likes me either. And quite frankly, I don't want her to like me. Not only does it kind of creep me out, but look what her little childish affections did to me! I'm in the freaking Hunger Games because _she_ likes me and her _boyfriend_ hates me because of that. So you don't have to worry about your little sister, okay?" I suddenly realize how loud my voice has grown during the conversation, and that I am somehow standing on my feet. Today… today is no good.

I; get barely any sleep, have to sit through boring speeches, become a tribute in the Hunger Games, watch my the strongest man I have ever known cry – twice, board a train that's going to take me away from everything I have ever known, and find out that my mentor is stupider than District Six's dumbest smart car. And now, to top it all off, I am getting lectured by my stalker's older sister! Yes, _lectured_.

"Look, wolf-mutt, you'd be lucky to land a girl like Hemi and you know it," she chides. _Chides!_ "As a matter of fact, you'd be lucky to land any girl at all. And how dare you call her affections childish if you have never had any experience in love yourself? You have no idea how many times she - "

Ford interrupts. "Wait, you're a wolf-mutt?" he looks me up and down.

"Yes," Chortle explains to him. "Didn't you see them all howl when he got reaped?"

"Well, yes, but I didn't know that it meant _that_," Ford responds.

And that's it. I'm done. I am finished with it all, because I have just discovered that my mentor is dumber than a _Capitol person!_ I slap my hand to my forehead and leave the dining car. As I leave, I hear Ford shout, "Hey! If you're a wolf-mutt, the other tributes don't stand a chance!" I slam the door shut and jokingly consider if I should try jumping off the train.

* * *

We are in the Capitol by dinner time. Octane looks all around and takes in the sight of everything. I look only at my feet, taking in the sounds and smells. It's too crowded here. The Capitol smells like thousands of sweaty bodies living close together under the hot summer sun. It sounds like the chatter of thousands of playing children. I don't have to look around to automatically know that I don't like it here. I hold my breath to rid myself of the stench.

We arrive at the building where we will be living. Dinner is waiting in our suite; and it is a suite. It doesn't stink like outside on the streets. And I can't hear a single noise seeping in through the walls or windows. And I hate this more. I can't hear anything, and perfumes drift around and affect my sense of smell as well. Wolf-mutts need to be able to feel like there is a world beyond them; a place to run if needed. I don't feel this at all here, and I get a sick feeling in my stomach. I refrain from dinner.

After the others finish eating, we watch the recaps of the Reapings we missed. Recaps mean that there are no boring speeches to sit through – thank goodness – and all we do is watch the Reapings.

District Seven is the first one we missed, as we were travelling to the city center at that time. There is nothing that stands out to much here. The tributes are a guy named Parchment Alexander and a girl named Timber Woode.

The next District is Five. The boy tribute is fourteen, and his name is Atom Quark. The girl is sixteen, like Octane, and her name is Sparks Wire.

District Four is next, and I pay more attention. This is one of the Career districts. The tributes from this district win often, just like the ones from Districts One and Two. I stare at the screen as the two tributes are reaped, and then they are asked to choose someone from their district to represent them.

From the way it appears, the girl from District 4 picks her best friend. The two squeal happily together, and the new tribute smiles and says, "Thank you!" The former tribute leaves, and the new one takes her place. Her name is Loyla Wolffe. She has blonde hair and blue eyes and she looks – let's just say I had to bite my tongue to keep from panting again. She's fifteen, like me.

The male tribute picks his older brother, who seems to be apathetic about being in the Quarter Quell. This guy is sixteen, muscular, and surveys the crowd like it's his kingdom. He has dark auburn hair, dark brown eyes, and a tan. His name is Neptune Scrod.

And that's when the howls start. The howls keen and bellow. That's when Loyla throws back her head and howls with them. And Neptune joins as well. But these aren't howls of pain and mourning like they were for me. No. These are howls of victory.

Next is District Three. Both tributes are too young, at age twelve. And they both have disabilities. It seems like District Three just wants to get rid of poor Marcus Sprocket and Jenny Gizmo. He's lame in his left leg, and she seems to have some sort of congenital mental health problem. I shake my head in sympathy and fight the urge to growl.

District Two comes around now, and I watch carefully again. The female tribute is seventeen, and her name is Dream Arne. She has brown hair and dark, murderous eyes. I'll have to watch her in the arena for sure.

The male tribute for District Two is D.C. Knight. He's thirteen. He seems confident, and his eyes sparkle beneath his golden hair. Confidence can be a bad thing if manipulated properly. Ereed Tys is proof of that.

We finally reach the Reapings for District One. The name of the male tribute is Sapphire Jewel. He smiles and waves at the crowd. He's seventeen and – if the fluidity with which he waves his arm is any indication – rather agile. His dark blue eyes are cold beneath the black bangs of his hair. He's dangerous.

The female tribute is named Mascara Cash. Her dirty-blonde hair comes just past her shoulders, and she has hazel eyes that twinkle with mischief. Or quite possibly evil. She has tan skin. She's extremely thin though. She doesn't look like she'd be physically strong enough to kill a person.

* * *

The Reapings are over and the television is turned off, but I don't move from the couch. There are two other wolf-mutts in the Hunger Games this year. And what's worse? They're from a Career district.

After that, I go through the door that leads to my private room and collapse onto the bed. I know that I must have fallen asleep, but I don't remember when.


	5. No Ordinary Interview

I awake the next morning and bolt up in bed. _"Where am I?"_ is my very first thought. This place doesn't smell like home, with the signature scent that comes from four men living together without a woman. This place doesn't sound like home, with the soft sound of Randolph's breathing from the bed by the closet. And it most certainly does not look like home or the bedroom that Randolph and I share, with its sparse furnishings. No. This place is not home.

This place is luxurious. It has a bed much bigger than any I've ever seen, not to mention slept in. The walls are decorated with various artworks, and one entire wall is a window. This place smells strange. A heady mixture of different, unidentifiable fragrances wafts into my nostrils. This place even sounds strange; the only thing I can hear being the beat of my own heart and the sound of my own breath. And… three other peoples' breaths?

I look toward the door, and there they stand. Three Capitol people – two men and a woman - have been watching me sleep, and I feel a little creeped out. But I feel angry too, and that emotion wins. "Who are you and what are you doing in my room?" I practically shout at them.

One of the men – the one with dark blue hair and red, swirling tattoos all over his body – steps forward and speaks up in a very effeminate voice, "We're your prep team. Sugar sent us to help get you ready, handsome."

I stare at him in disbelief and confusion. "Sugar?"

"That's your stylist, sweet pea," he replies.

My eyes widen and I bolt out of bed screaming, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" I run to the bathroom and lock myself in. I shake my head vehemently and yell through the door, "No. Absolutely not! I don't do… hair products!" Now, I will wash my hair with shampoo when it's dirty. But Dad always buys the cheapest kind – the one without any perfumes in it. Wolf-mutts don't like to smell like flowers or anything else other than a wolf-mutt. The weird scents that are in shampoos and other things like that tamper with our sense of smell, and it isn't appreciated.

I hear a female voice now. "Wolfgang? Please come out of the bathroom." She sounds kind of scared, so I don't bother to listen to her. What can she possibly do?

Then I hear another male voice; this one booms smooth and deep. "Sugar won't be happy if we don't finish the job. You don't want to make her angry. She'll put you in something ugly just to be spiteful, and then you won't get any sponsors."

His logic reminds me of Lupine – the brother that can talk me into almost anything – and I immediately put my defenses up. I let out an animal snarl to warn him off.

The girl shrieks in fear. The deep-voiced male grunts unhappily. And the voice of the first guy sing-songs on the other side of the door, "Ah well, the puppy-dog doesn't want to take a bath right now. We'll have to come back later."

And as much as I try to fight it, my pride as a wolf-mutt won't let him get away with that. As I stare at the mirror that's attached to the back of the door, I briefly notice that I've morphed before flinging the door open and staring death at the blue-haired member of my prep team. I'm unable to contain the feral growl that mixes with my words as I ask, "What did you just call me?"

The other two people stare at me fearfully, but the first one just stares at me with starry eyes. "Oh my gosh, he's beautiful!" I growl at that comment too. "Oh," the prep-man adds, "and feisty too. I like him."

I flatten my canine ears back on my head before turning to look at the other two. The woman is short and thin. Her hair is fuchsia, and her entire face is painted (or possibly tattooed) to look like a giant pink, blue and green butterfly.

The last guy has dyed his skin solid black. I can tell that it's dye because the color is slightly off and reminds me of a tire – a very dark grey. His hair is short and rust-brown. His lips are rust-brown as well. And his eyes are a light blue that contrasts greatly with the rest of his body, and are quite possibly the only thing naturally colored on his body.

"What are your names?" I growl.

"Jared," says the deep-voiced guy.

"P – Penelope," stutters butterfly-face.

"Oliver," answers the blue-haired one with a wink. "Now, let's get you gorgeous."

"_I'm doomed,"_ I think to my myself. _"I will die before I even reach the Games."_ That is the moment that my stomach rumbles rather loudly, which is strange. I'm not even hungry, even though I did skip dinner last night. Wolf-mutts can go a lot longer than that without eating. But the noise causes all three members of the prep team to give me sympathetic looks.

"Oh," Oliver says regretfully, "we didn't even let the poor boy eat breakfast."

"Let's let him eat first, please," Penelope squeaks. It's almost as if she thinks I'll eat them if they make me skip breakfast. I smile at her because she at least has the proper respect for the power of my kind. She gasps and hides behind Jared.

* * *

After breakfast, they bring me back to my private area of the suite and go to work on my appearance. Jared shows me how to work the shower, with its chaos of various buttons. After I shower, I come out smelling like eucalyptus. I hate the unnatural scent, but they don't have any perfume-free options.

Then they all start in on everything else. Penelope scrubs my hands, knees and elbows vigorously while Oliver stares intently at my eyebrows and sculpts them with a pair of tweezers. The eyebrow thing is kind of weird, but that's nothing compared to what Jared is about to do. I smelled the pot of wax heating up, and I wasn't sure what they were going to do with it. But then Jared comes over with it and appears to have intent to pour.

I bolt straight up on the prep table and begin to protest as Penelope shrieks and drops her pumice stone and Oliver complains about plucking one too many hairs because I moved. "No! No waxing anything. I mean, I'm a guy. I'm supposed to have hairy legs. And besides that, I'm a wolf-mutt! You guys are lucky that I'm not completely covered in fur."

Jared grins evilly as Oliver lectures me, "Now Wolfgang, hairy men haven't been fashionable for nearly a century. I know that it's still accepted in some of the Districts, but you're in the Capitol now."

I then decide to do something that I'm not especially proud of. I look deeply into Oliver's eyes and whimper like a puppy, hoping that he'll relent. But he merely sticks his hands on his hips and says, "Oh no, mister. You'll not get any leniency from me. You messed up my entire plan for your eyebrows, and now I have to sculpt them all over again! Now lay down." He's frowning at me. I sigh in discontent and obey. He's only doing his job, right? But when the hot wax is poured onto my chest and Jared presses a strip of cloth on top of it, I suck on my lip. And when he pulls it off… I yelp.

* * *

Two hours later, I'm finally ready for Sugar. They call her in. Her white hair is styled into a snowflake, and her skin is dyed a pale blue. She examines me with her deep brown eyes and tells the prep team to leave. Sugar then circles me for a while, occasionally poking me in various places, and I find myself missing Oliver. Sugar nods and tells me to put my clothes on. Then she leaves without saying anything else. That's weird.

* * *

That evening is the Tribute Parade. Sugar comes back with my costume, and I am repulsed by what I see. It is a cardboard box that has been painted to look like a car. She instructs me to strip, and I do. Then she shoves the cardboard car over my head. The only things it covers are my genitals, butt and hips. It's held up by a pair of red suspenders. The cardboard car is red too. "I'm big into recycling," Sugar explains when I look at her like she's crazy.

When I come out of my room mortified, I am reminded that tributes from the same district always wear matching outfits. Octane stands there in the blue version of my costume, and I stare at her in shock. Our stylists must be insane.

She catches me staring and scowls at me, so I quickly look away. That's when Chortle comes with Helena and Ford to escort us down with Sugar and Octane's stylist; the one who introduces himself as Spice. The worst part is that the interviews are tonight too. I have to be interviewed in this thing!

I've seen old tapes of the first seventy-five Hunger Games and their paraphernalia. They always wore different outfits to the interviews, which always occurred on a different night. But at the Third Quarter Quell, the districts showed unity by holding hands when they left the stage. And that action helped promote the Second Rebellion. So now we have to be interviewed separately on the night of the Tribute Parade. And I have a feeling that I will have difficulty focusing while wearing this thing.

* * *

When we're loaded into the chariot, I turn to Ford and ask him for advice about interviewing in a tiny cardboard box. He just laughs as answers, "You probably won't have to say anything. Those Capitol girls will all be staring at your abs. You're going to get a truckload of sponsors thanks to Sugar." He gives me thumbs up as the chariot pulls out onto the stretch of road. This answer angers me, and I go out with a bad attitude.

It seems that I'm not the only one. Octane has her arms crossed over her chest, scowling. So I scowl too. And because I'm angry anyways, I growl a little bit. I'm determined to look as dangerous as possible in this skimpy box that I now realize shouldn't even be called an outfit. I look up at the screen and notice that I've morphed again. Good. I puff my chest out in pride. Let these idiots see how lethal I can be.

I watch the interviews. The girl from each district goes before its boy, so Mascara Cash is up first, as they go in numerical order. She is dressed in a gown that is covered in tiny diamonds. She giggles a lot and plays that part of the cute girl with a mischievous side. The audience eats it up.

Next comes Sapphire Jewel. He smiles and acts all friendly, easily bantering with the host of the show. He's wearing a suit encrusted with sapphires. It's not very original, but at least he actually has clothes on.

Dream Arne from District Two is next. She is cold and talks about how much she has prepared for the Games. She is totally nude and is painted to look like a stone sculpture. Well, District Two is the masonry district.

D.C. Knight follows her. He looks really happy to be there and talks about what an honor it was to be chosen. He is painted to look like a statue as well. I suddenly feel very grateful for my cardboard car.

Jenny Gizmo from District Three is up next. She just sits there and grins the entire time, not seeming to notice the host's questions. Her mental impairment is obvious, and I'm disgusted that her district would do this to her. She wears a silver jumpsuit that is covered in dozens of things that look like gears to reflect District Three's technology work.

Marcus Sprocket follows her in a similar outfit. He limps onto the stage and seems subdued throughout the entire interview process. He's probably already given up.

Then it's time for Loyla Wolffe of District Four, and I stifle a whimper. She walks onto the stage in full morph. She's a purebred. She wears a light, linen dress and has fishnet hose on both her legs and arms. She morphs back into her human shape as she sits down and smiles at the shivering host who instantly begins to ask her all about the advantages of being a wolf-mutt in the games. She grins coyly and answers each one of his questions mysteriously.

Neptune Scrod follows her, and he walks onto the stage morphed as well. He's a half-blood, like me. His rust-colored wolf ears twitch as he talks with the host. He doesn't morph back before leaving the stage. He walks off the way he walked on.

Sparks Wire from District Five mounts the stage dressed like a light bulb. I don't pay much attention to her or her district partner, Atom Quark. I'm too nervous about my own approaching interview. I couldn't even talk to people back in District Six. How am I going to talk to an entire crowd here?

Octane is next on the stage. The awkward shape of her costume makes sitting down difficult for her, and she wastes most of her interview time trying to get seated. She only has time for one question before her allotted time is over, and then it's suddenly my turn. But I now know what I'm going to say.

As I get up on the stage, I refuse to take a seat. I'm not going to waste time like Octane did. The host fires his first question. "So Wolfgang, it seems as if you are a wolf-mutt too. Am I correct?"

"Obviously," I retort sourly.

"Oh," the host replies. "You're a tough guy, huh?"

"Yup," I answer. My arms are still crossed over my chest, and I'm still scowling.

"So…" the host stalls as he thinks of his next question. "It seems that everyone so far has known the person that elected them to the Games. Do you mind if I ask you about your relationship with Ereed Tys? That was the name of the boy who was reaped in your district, correct?"

"Yeah," I growl coldly. "He's my archenemy, all because his little girlfriend has a thing for me. He thinks that I'm a threat to him, so he no doubt wants to get rid of me. Well, if I wasn't a threat to him before, I sure as heck am one now. I'm going to win this thing just so I can go back and beat the crap out of him."

"Ah," the host smiles. "So you want revenge?"

"Darn straight," I grunt.

"Well ladies and gentlemen," the host turns to the audience, "we all know how good of a motivator that can be, do we not?" The crowd murmurs their agreement, and then my interview is over.

I return to my chariot and watch the rest of the interviews. Only a few stand out to me. District Eight's Seamus Thread sulks and says that he has to get back to help his mom provide for his seven younger siblings. Millie Rice from District Nine wears an amazing dress made out of shafts of wheat, and she speaks in a gentle voice that is so euphonious. I end up realizing that my tongue has slipped out of my mouth in an adoring pant and quickly shove it back in. And finally, District Twelve's Coal Black stands out to me as much as he did during the Reaping. He talks about the love of his life, Karina Ellis. He only got sent here because Pritchard Hayes wants his girl, and Coal was in the way. Our stories are so similar that I instantly growl in his defense and mark him as a necessary ally. If I don't make it out of here, I know that I want him to win. One of the Ereeds of this world might as well get pummeled. And if I can't punish Ereed Tys, then I want Coal to punish Pritchard Hayes.


	6. No Ordinary Tribute: 1st Training Day

The training sessions start the next morning. We get seven days to train; six with the other tributes, and one with only our mentor. I know nothing about fighting, but I can hunt and I can swim. I make it a point to learn some fighting skills before the week is over. I also decide that I should learn a great deal of survival skills.

I start at the fire-building station with Octane. She's the only person that I know here, so I want to start out with her until I get a bit more comfortable with this funny-smelling atmosphere. Learning how to start a fire turns out to be really easily. I already know a whole lot about stuff that does and doesn't burn, as there were special lessons in Advanced Shop Class about what things can be burned as fuel. I also know some of the things that cause sparks, as a spark is needed to start an engine. I smile and move on to the next station.

This station is the edible plants station. This one takes me a lot longer, but I eventually am able to recognize some edible things from various environments. And I also am able to identify some of the basic signs of poisonous plant-life. I decide to return to this one tomorrow.

I leave and find the medicinal plants station. These are a little easier to remember because most of them have a process that needs to be performed before they can be used as medicine. I remember things better if they have multiple steps. That's just another effect of growing up in District Six, I suppose. I can remember every step in the assembly of an engine, and I have trained to memorize things like that my whole life. I guess that's why I'm better at memorizing a long process than a few short and independent rules.

I finally reach the weapons and fighting station. But what should I pick? D.C. of District 2 is throwing knives. Neptune has a trident. And Mille of District 9 has a sickle. What should I try first?

Coal Black walks up and grabs a pick axe. He slams that into the foam bodies of the training dummies as I watch and contemplate what I should pick. His dark eyes shine with anger, and I smile because I realize he's probably picturing Pritchard's face on every one of them.

I walk over to the rack of weapons and pick up a spear. I'm alright at throwing things, so maybe I should try this. I aim at one of the targets and suddenly notice that Loyla and Sapphire are watching me. I hurl the spear toward the target, and it misses, flying over its head. I hear laughter but don't bother to find out from whom. I cock my head to the side and retrieve the weapon. But I forget that I'm in the middle of a target practice arena. One of D.C.'s knives almost pins me to the floor, and I know it's not an accident. Fortunately, I hear it coming and duck out of the way just in time. More than that, I make it look like a coincidence as I lift my spear from the ground. Then I look over to where the knife has landed before glancing at D.C. and commenting, "You missed the target."

Mascara snickers and Neptune smirks, and so I know that I've fooled them. But I notice that Coal has pinned me under his black gaze. I smirk at him and mouth, "Watch this." He relaxes his stance and watches me. I feel the weight of the weapon in my hand and quickly calculate the trajectory and estimate the desired velocity. Then I throw the spear, and it glides six inches away from D.C.'s head and past him, embedding into the face of a foam training dummy. The pack of Careers stares at me in shock. "That's how you hit a target," I explain with a grin. I hear Coal laugh. I see Neptune frown. I smell D.C.'s anger. And then the bell rings that signals lunch.

* * *

At lunch, Coal sits with Octane and me. He introduces himself as the tribute from District Twelve, and Octane rolls her eyes and leaves to sit with the people from District Seven. "What was that about?" he asks.

I frown. "She doesn't like me. Plus she overheard something my mentor said about the tributes from District Twelve never winning. My guess is that she doesn't like you either, because of that."

Coal shrugs. "Well I'm not here to make friends."

"Nope," I answer. "You're here to win, right?"

Coal grins and nods. "You know it."

"And that's why you'll make a good ally. You know the odds are stacked against you, but you have a reason not to quit. You're not like the rest of them," I reply.

"Ally? Me?" Coal raises his eyebrows skeptically. "What if we have to end up killing each other?"

I answer honestly. "I'll probably let you win. You have someone important to go back to. Me? I'm one of a set of identical triplets. If the world loses me, there are two others left that are just like me."

Coal looks amazed. "You aren't just mining me?"

I give him a strange look. That must be some kind of District 12 slang. "I don't even know what that means…"

He smiles. "Good. Shake on it?" He holds out his hand. It seems I've just made my first ally, so I take his outstretched hand and shake it.

* * *

After lunch is over, I return to the edible plants station and try to retain a bit more knowledge. After that, I head to the knot-tying station. I learn some decent basics, and then Neptune walks over, a low growl protruding from his throat. He picks up a piece of rope and starts to work with it, and then turns to demand that the male tribute from District 10 bring him a training dummy. The half-wit smiles and does as he's told.

Neptune stands there, and I watch his fingers as he works, trying to absorb the visual process of whatever he's doing. "I know what you were trying to do back there, Canis. You'd better watch yourself." The District 10 boy wheels over the foam dummy and Neptune shoos him away. I keep watching Neptune's fingers. The District Four wolf-mutt continues, "You'd better watch yourself, District Six. Playing games like that will cause you to get your bass kicked."

I shake my head, still staring at his hands. "I don't have a bass."

Neptune chuckles. "Well, I'll make you one and tie it on you just so I can kick it." His fingers stop, and I see that he has made a noose. He hooks it around the neck of the dummy and pulls it tight. Then he leans down and growls into my ear, "Watch yourself, Wolfgang. I certainly will be."

He begins to walk away, but I catch him with my words. "My quarrel isn't with you, Neptune. You haven't done anything to me… yet." I hear him stop, and so I turn to look at him. His back is still facing me, but I continue to speak anyway. "You don't think I know what D.C. was doing back there? He was trying to kill me. Now I have no problem with that, _once we're in the arena_. But you know as well as I do that trying it now is illegal. I repay like with like. Think about that before you decide to make me your enemy based on what I did to someone else."

Neptune's fists clench, and he whirls around on me. "You mess with my pack, you mess with me," he growls.

I raise a single eyebrow, as I am unimpressed with his display. "And you're going to make your pack based on what? Tradition?"

He's staring daggers at me right now, but I manage to keep my cool. "I'll make my pack," he growls, "from the strongest members."

I laugh. "Oh. So that's why you're choosing a human over another wolf-mutt," I say sarcastically, "because everyone knows that humans are so much stronger."

Neptune morphs and steps closer. His canine tail is raised as he leans over into my face. "There is only room for _one_ alpha male in my pack. And that's me."

I smirk. "And do you plan on making Loyla your alpha female?" I joke.

"You insufferable little bass-hole! Just wait until we get in that arena. I'll be coming for you!" he pokes me in the chest before turning and stomping back to the weapons training area.

* * *

I spend the rest of the day at the knot-tying station, trying to reconstruct what I saw Neptune make. I remember the process, but I have trouble mastering the fluidity of his movements. I eventually finish and test it a little before walking over to the weapons area. I stride up to the training dummy directly next to the one that Neptune is using. He's switched to practicing with knives.

"Hey, Neptune," I say. He pauses and looks at me, and I loop my noose around the neck of the training dummy. "Thanks for teaching me how to make this." I pull the rope fast and hard. The noose tightens around the dummy's neck so quickly that it cuts through the soft foam and chops the figure's head off. The foam head falls to the floor and bounces once before laying still. I watch Neptune blanch. And then the training day is over, and I return to the suite.

* * *

"So," Ford asks me, "how did training go today?"

Octane tattles on me before I can say a thing. "He's allies with the District 12 boy."

"What?" Ford frowns. "Didn't I tell you not to do that?"

Octane stands there with a self-satisfied smirk. I guess she's already decided to be enemies.

I answer Ford with, "Yes." That's all I say. I go to sit at the dinner table. When everyone else is seated, I eat. I don't talk to anyone; not when Sugar compliments me on my interview, not when Ford rants about my alliance with Coal, not even when Chortle asks me if the roast pig is good. I sit there and say nothing. I'm done talking for today.

My bed is a welcome sight. But Oliver told me to take a shower tonight "like a civilized citizen". I never promised that I would, but I might as well. I don't want anyone bothering me, and taking a shower is a good way to keep people away. This time I choose the aloe button. It's not nearly as smelly as eucalyptus.

I change into my pajamas. And then, I'm asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.


	7. No Ordinary Alliance: Training Days 2&3

Day two of training begins with me trying to memorize more stuff at the edible plants station – again. Why can't I remember this stuff? But it seems that the male tribute from District Eleven – I think his name is Barley – has everything figured out. Of course he does. He's from the agriculture district, after all. Maybe he would be a good ally too. If I can't remember what plants are safe to eat, it would be good to have help. Then again, I'll probably be able to catch a lot of meat on my own and won't even need plants. But there's no guarantee that the arena will have prey either.

Barley catches me looking at him and frowns. He seems pretty tough for a twelve-year-old, so I decide to give it a try. I open my mouth, but he cuts me off. "If you think I'm going to team up with anyone, you're a dummy."

I blink, taken a little aback. "But," I stammer out my first thought, "you're only twelve."

He scowls at me. "Just 'cause I'm young doesn't mean I'm a weakling."

I smirk. "I know. Do you think I would have tried to ask you if I thought you would slow me down?"

He shoots me a skeptical glare with hard, brown eyes. I shrug. "It's your choice, I guess. I'll let you think about it for a while." And then I leave the plants station and head over to another one.

This station is all about first aid. While it doesn't teach the same things that the medicinal plants station does, it does teach things about how to care for yourself when injured. I learn about the usage of tourniquets and how to sew up a wound. Then they teach bandage tactics and how to keep an injury clean. It's not difficult to remember, as several small processes form a much larger whole. When I leave that station, I feel like I retained a decent amount of information.

I go over to the weapons station next. Mascara is shooting arrows at a target. Sapphire is hacking at a foam dummy with a sword. I walk over and grab a spear. I practice throwing that for a while, calculating the trajectories and altering the angle of my arm and the power with which I throw. Sometimes I hit somewhere on the target, other times I hit the bulls-eye, and sometimes I miss the target completely. But that's okay. I know what I'm doing. I'm figuring out which throws work, and which ones don't. I hear Mascara chuckle under her breath. The Careers probably think that I don't know what I'm doing. That's okay. Let them think it.

I put away the spear and try my hand with knives. While with the spear I had to use my whole body, knives are really more about flicking the wrist. It's more difficult for me to throw these with precision, as so much rests on such a small part of my body. If I'm even slightly off, I miss. But the good thing is that knives are light. It requires less power to throw them than it does the metal spear.

I'm still practicing when Barley walks over to me. I pause and turn to look at him, and that's when the bell rings. It's time for lunch.

* * *

Barley walks with me to the lunch table. I sit down across from Coal, and he looks up and gives a half wave. Barley sits down next to me, warily, glaring at Coal. Coal looks at Barley. "Who's this?"

I smile. "This is Barley, from District 11. He had something he wanted to tell me, but then the bell rang, so we waited." I turn to Barely. "Now what is it that you had to say?"

Barely glances from me to Coal and then back again. "I've been considering your offer," he drawls slowly.

"Have you?" I ask smugly. I knew that he would come around. "And what have you decided?"

Barley nods slowly. "I accept."

I grin. "I thought you might." Barley frowns, and I laugh.

Coal speaks up, "To what offer are we referring?"

I glance over at Coal. "Barley here has just agreed to be part of our little group."

Coal looks at Barley, then back to me. "Are you sure about this?"

"Now Coal," I admonish teasingly, "don't underestimate people. If I had done the same thing you're doing right now, I never would have teamed up with _you_. Remember, he may be from District Eleven, but they still have a better record of victors than your district does."

Coal grunts. "Winning isn't about numbers."

I smirk. "And what is age?"

Barley chuckles. "Hey, I think I like you, mutt."

I turn and grin at him. "Thanks. I don't get that a lot."

* * *

After lunch, I walk over to the fishing station. I'm trying to figure how to make a fish-hook. That's when Loyla waltzes over and leans onto the table. She picks up a metal hook and dangles it in front of her face, giving a low chuckle. "Hey District Six, do you want a free body piercing?"

"I'll pass," I reply.

She shrugs and puts the hook down. "I figured that you liked dangerous things. Districts 12 and 11? Those are some dangerous choices in allies." She leans over the table and in close to my face. She smells like the natural scent of sweat, and though this would make a human repulsed, she knows that I'm a wolf-mutt. She knows what we like. And I can guess that she is exploiting it.

"Not as dangerous as you," I reply.

She grins coyly. "I'm only dangerous when I'm your enemy."

I decide to try to pit her against her ally if I can. Planting a little strife among the Careers before entering the arena could only work in my favor. "Well, Loyla, I'm afraid that Neptune's already decided that I'm enemy material. Apparently I'm not allowed to defend myself when someone tries to kill me."

She gives a low, seductive chuckle. "Neptune doesn't control me. I can do what I want."

"I wasn't implying that he does. All I'm saying is that he sees me as a threat, so he doesn't want me anywhere near him… or anywhere near you."

"What do you mean by that?" she sounds defensive, and I smile.

"He's already marked his territory with you. I'm surprised that he hasn't tried to pee on you yet. He seems a little… feral. He's made it very clear that there's only room for one alpha male in his pack."

"_His_ pack?" Loyla repeats, frowning. She backs away and puts her hands on her hips.

I nod. "It really lets you know who's he looking out for, doesn't it? He makes it sound like everything is all about him."

Loyla scoffs and crosses her arms over her chest before giving me a pointed look. "And you're sure about this? He doesn't behave that way around us at all. He wasn't just acting strange around you?"

I raise my hands. "People are always honest with their enemies because they don't care what they think of them. I know from experience."

Loyla looks skeptical, but then seems to remember something. She stares off into space and mouths the word, "Interview." She must be remembering what I said about Ereed. She looks up at me again. "I see," she says stoically. "Thanks, District Six. You've been a big help." She turns to walk off, but turns around right before leaving to say, "Just don't tell anyone that I said that." She smiles before walking over to Dream Arne at the camouflage station and tapping her on the shoulder. I smile to myself, happy with the work that I've done today.

* * *

The third day of training begins with me throwing knives and a spear, practicing my aim. When I realize that Dream is staring at me, I move onto another station. I don't want to get too comfortable with the Careers.

I end up at the edible plants station again. Barley comes over and quizzes me on poisonous berries. I miss twenty-five percent of them, and he chides that the difference between life and death lies in that percent. I feel kind of stupid, being reprimanded by a twelve-year-old, but I know that he's right.

I move on to the edible bug station. This is my first visit to this place, and the thought is a little bit gross. But again, there's no telling what the arena holds. So I lift a cockroach to my mouth and… down the hatch. Ick!

But this station has its good points too. Millie Rice stands there, pouring over the volumes of bugs. She grins at me and says nervously, "I'm kind of scared to eat one. I envy your courage." I struggle to keep from puffing my chest out in pride. The way to a wolf-mutt's heart is to compliment his courage. She points to the book. "It says here that you can eat any of them that are six legs and under."

This intrigues me. "So, the others are poisonous?"

She nods and points to a picture. "Look at this. It's called 'scorpion'. Do you see this tail?" She indicates the tail that curves menacingly over its back, and I nod. "According to this, it has a deadly sting and strikes with its tail."

"Interesting," I reply.

"It also says that they've been extinct for nearly two-hundred-and-fifty years. So, they probably won't be in the arena, right?" she asks fearfully.

I shrug. "Anything can be in that arena."

She winces. "I was afraid you'd say that."

That's when Seamus Thread, of District Eight, walks up to me. "I need to speak with you," he says in a voice that sounds more demanding than friendly. His blue-green eyes hold anger, and I wonder what it is that I've done to make him so irate.

"What about?" I ask.

Seamus' frown deepens. "That son of a b*tch, Neptune," he answers.

I laugh. It seems like Neptune has managed to get yet another tribute mad at him. And not only that, but since Neptune is half wolf-mutt, it is highly likely that his mother is an actual bitch, as in a she-wolf. "Alright," I tell Seamus. "What about him?"

"He's a pain in the thimble; a real needle-stick," he complains. I don't have to know District Eight slang to know that he's insulting him.

"I meant other than the obvious," I explain.

Seamus smirks. "I don't like him, and I hear that you don't either."

"You hear correctly," I reply.

Seamus nods. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend," he says.

"Welcome aboard," I hold out my hand to shake on it. Seamus takes my hand and shakes it firmly. "We'll see you at lunch."

"We?" Seamus asks

I nod. "Yes. I've already got two others on my team, but we won't leave out anyone who wants to help, if we think that they can help."

Seamus nods and grins slightly before leaving.

I turn back to Millie. "Any chance that I could get in on that, too?" she asks.

I stare at her, wide-eyed, and answer, "Of course." I catch myself before I start panting and add, "I've seen you swing a sickle. You're pretty good."

"Thanks," she says cheerily. She rolls up her sleeve and shows me a defined bicep, and I have to bite my tongue. She pokes the muscles and giggles. "Years of threshing," she teases.

"Great," I reply squeakily. I leave before I can embarrass myself.

* * *

At lunch, Coal seems happy to have Seamus aboard. Seamus seems happy that Millie is on the team. And Barley glares at everyone skeptically.

"So Seamus," Coal begins, "I've seen you practice. How did you get so strong?"

Seamus grins. "I'm one of the people who carry the rolls of carpets to the trucks. It's a long walk, and you can't drop the carpet, lest you get it dirty and cause a Capitol person to snub it." Coal laughs and makes a comment on the persnickety ways of the Capitol people.

Millie attempts to start a conversation with Barley about plants. Barley ignores her. And I just sit and survey the socialization of my pack. It's important that we learn to get along over the next few days. Our lives depend on it.


	8. No Ordinary Offer

**Author: Thanks to wericdream for your myriad of reviews!**

* * *

I spend the next three days of training both surveying the talents of my allies and exercising my muscles to try and build strength before the Games begin. Here is what I discover.

Coal was right that Seamus is strong. I watch him work at the fishing station, but Seamus eventually becomes frustrated with his lack of progress. What does he do about it? He picks up the table and throws it a couple of feet, nearly squashing the girl from District Three. I raise my eyebrows and Seamus glares at me. I look away, shifting my gaze to the weapons station.

There, Coal hacks a dummy with a pick axe. I watch until I get bored, but I learn that he's better at overhand swings than underhand ones, and that he's right-handed.

I turn to see Millie hard at work at the poisonous animals station. She's pretty good with things like that, and I wonder why. But later she tells me that snakes like to hunt in the wheat fields and it pays to know when to run and when to stay put. I guess that makes sense.

I watch Barley try to throw some knives. He always hits the target, but the knives often rotate in the air so that the part that hits is the handle or dull edge. He isn't very good at that. But later, when he somehow gets D.C. mad at him, I watch him shimmy up a metal pole like it's nothing. I find out later that Barley works in a peach orchard back in District 11, so he's used to climbing trees.

I also assess my enemies. D.C. has a petty temper that causes him to lash out on everyone, including his allies. Something tells me that Neptune won't appreciate that.

Dream hardly ever talks. And while she is good with weapons, she is bad at everything else. She seems bloodthirsty though, and that will make her dangerous enough.

Mascara is really no threat, despite the fact that she is from District One. My first assessment of her physical strength was correct: she has none. But her light form causes her to move more quietly than the others, and I wonder if humans would be able to hear her at all.

Sapphire is downright deadly; nearly as bad as Neptune. The District One boy can shoot a bow and arrow with lethal accuracy. He is agile and fast. But that's not all; he's smart. At the plants stations he can identify everything on the table by name within five minutes; he can sort them into helpful and harmful in under a minute. Between his plant knowledge and the hunting ability of two wolf-mutts, the Careers might be able to provide their own food this year.

Neptune glares at me when I try to watch him. He stops whatever he is doing especially to glare at me. That's no help, so I leave.

* * *

The thing that surprises me most is the thing that happens on the sixth day of training. Loyla walks over to me as I dangle upside-down from the exercise rings. I stare at her quizzically for a bit, and she places her hands on her hips and gives me a look that clearly says, "I'm waiting."

I right myself with a flip and disengage from the usage of the rings, staring back at her to convey, "I'm listening."

Loyla smirks and takes her left hand off of her hip, placing it on my right shoulder. She leans over and stretches onto her tiptoes in order to whisper into my ear. Her seductive tone forces me to bite my tongue. "Listen, District Six. Dream, Sapphire and I have been talking about you, and about Neptune. We figure that if Neptune is just going to kill us all in the end to win himself some glory, then we don't want to be around him. So, we have a proposal for you."

I swallow before managing to say in a somewhat shaky voice, "We? Well, how come you are the only one over here?"

Loyla stops and leans back to look me straight into the eyes. "Now Wolfgang," she says quietly, "we don't want you to feel like we're threatening you."

"Uh-huh," I grunt. "So what are you offering?"

Loyla grins and leans back in to whisper into my ear, some of her dark blonde hair falling onto my shoulder as she does this. "We want to team up with you."

I pull back slightly and stare at her in shock. Is she serious? Half of the Careers want to be _my_ team members?

"But," she adds, eyeing my lips for some odd reason, "we'll only do this if you throw out those losers that you've petitioned. We _do_ want to make it farther than the bloodbath, you see." This causes me to frown. She expects me to switch allies on the last possible day? But she just meets my eyes and grins. "What do you say, handsome? Do you want to seal it with a kiss?"

That's when my eyes widen, and I shove her away from me, backing away as I do. This has gone too far. She just doesn't get it, does she? She thinks that she can tempt me into this by basically promising to be my mate? I swallow fearfully because there's a large part of me that wants to accept readily; the animal part. But a smaller part of me says "no", and I know that that's the part I'll obey. It's always been the part I've obeyed; my human half, even though it is weaker, always wins. I swallow again, but this time it is in resolve. "No deal, Loyla," I growl.

She looks stricken and gasps, "Why not? I'm – We're better than them! Are you stupid?"

I smirk and shake my head. "No. I'm just more human than you are." And just like that, I walk away. And then the bell rings for lunch.

* * *

During lunch, I notice that Neptune glares at me and doesn't eat a thing. Seamus notices and speaks up. "What did you do to get him all in a knot?"

I shrug and look across the table at Seamus. "Existing," I answer.

* * *

After lunch, Neptune finds me getting in one last weapons practice. The last knife has just left my hand when he tackles me to the ground. "You son of a b*tch!" he growls at me, sounding rather feral. "You stay away from her, do you hear me?"

A couple of peacekeepers come over to try to put a stop to it, but they back off when Neptune morphs and bares his teeth at them. The District Four wolf-mutt looks back at me with a snarl.

I frown up at him. "Excuse me, but I'll have you know that my mother was a human." In an instant, I morph as well and shove him off of me. I hear gasps from the deck where the Gamemakers normally sit leisurely observing us, but I don't turn around.

"You stay away from her," he repeats.

"She came onto _me_, okay? And for your information, I told her that I didn't want any part of it. So get off my tail, mutt!" I snap back. I notice Coal staring at me, and I can feel several other pairs of eyes resting on my back. I just stare at Neptune and imagine how good it would feel to rip his ear off with my teeth. But I don't do it because I realize that I've started thinking of Neptune in the same way that I think of Ereed. He's an insufferable idiot that lives for himself and needs to learn a thing or two. But I know that I don't have to be the one to teach him a lesson. "If you expect loyalty from your allies, you'd better give them just the same," I spit. "You don't get anything for free in this world." I turn my back and walk away. Behind me, I hear a struggle as the peacekeepers try to get Neptune under control. When it goes quiet, I turn around in confusion to find Neptune passed out in one of the men's arms. The other man holds an empty syringe. I turn back around and suppress a smirk. They sedated him because he couldn't control himself. And while it's amusing now, I can only think one thing: There won't be any sedatives in the arena.

* * *

The seventh day of training consists of Ford and me getting a half-hour to work by ourselves in the training room. This time mostly consists of Ford complaining. "I don't know why I should be mentoring you when you won't listen to anything I say," he grunts. "You had an opportunity to team up with Districts 1, 2 and 4. And you threw it away! For what? For a group of dark horses! You must be insane."

I ignore him and practice throwing the spear and the knives. After that, I head over to the climbing ropes and start up one, imagining that this rope is the only thing keeping me from falling into a bottomless gorge. I make it to the top and rappel back down to the ground. Once I'm finished, I cross my arms over my chest and say to Ford, "Our time is up." Ford just grumbles something about me being a wild little trucker as we return to the suite.

* * *

The next day is the day we display our skills in front of the Gamemakers so that they can rate us. I wait patiently for my turn, and when my name is called, I get up and walk through the doors. "You may begin," one of them tells me.

I run quickly to the weapons rack and grab a multi-sheath of knives. I throw one after another into the hearts, throats, and armpits of the foam dummies. Then I grab a spear and hurl it at the target. It hits it dead-center. I turn to the Gamemakers and say, "I need something to chase."

"Excuse me?" asks the Gamekeeper, Cloys Nasser.

"I need a small animal to chase, like a squirrel or something."

One of the women stands up and pulls a ferret out of her long, poufy sleeve. "This is Oscar," she says with a smile. "I'll bring him out." She brings out the ferret and puts him on the floor before returning to the Gamemakers' deck. "Begin," she says.

I morph, and a few in my audience gasp. I quickly catch the ferret, and I'm disappointed that he doesn't make very good prey. He barely ran anywhere at all. I look back up at them. "Thanks, but this was kind of boring. He didn't even run."

Oscar's owner snuffs, "Of course not. Oscar loves people."

I give her a pointed look, and Cloys turns his head toward the side entrance of the deck. "What's that, chef? Okay." The Gamekeeper turns to me. "The chef says that he has a chicken that he plans on cooking during the rest of the viewings and serving us for dinner. It's still alive now. Would you prefer it?"

"May I?" I reply.

Cloys nods and signals them to bring the chicken out. An Avox brings out the bird, and I hand her the ferret, which she returns to its rightful owner. Then I turn my attention to the chicken and give chase. This time I am not disappointed. I get a good five minutes from the bird before finally capturing it. I hold the squawking animal by its neck and turn to the Gamemakers' deck. "Does the chef want me to kill it too?"

* * *

"YOU DID WHAT?" Ford hollers at me that evening. Octane wears a triumphant smirk while Helena stares at me like I'm some kind of animal… which I kind of am.

"I showed them what I could do," I reply. "Wasn't that the purpose for which this time was allotted?"

"You! You. You…" Ford starts, and fails to finish, three sentences.

Chortle laughs. "You chased around a chicken? Oh, I would have loved to see that! It would have been very amusing."

The television blares the anthem of Panem and then the scores are being televised. Gamekeeper Cloys Nasser announces each number. "Mascara Cash, District One, with a score of 7. Sapphire Jewel, District One, with a score of 9. Dream Arne, District Two, with a score of 8. D.C. Knight, District Two, with a score of 7. Jenny Gizmo, District Three, with a score of 1. Marcus Sprocket, District Three, with a score of 4.

Loyla Wolffe, District Four, with a score of 10. Neptune Scrod, District Four, with a score of 9."

I laugh because Loyla got a higher score than Neptune. Ford frowns at me and grumbles, "You see what you passed up on?"

Cloys continues. "Sparks Wire, District Five, with a score of 5. Atom Quark, District Five, with a score of 6." We all lean closer to the screen. We know we're next. "Octane Rev, District Six, with a score of 6." Octane pouts and Helena pats her back soothingly. Ford's eyes are locked on the screen.

When the Gamekeeper talks, it seems like the entire world has slowed down. "Wolfgang Canis… District Six… with a score of… 10." My rapidly-beating heart jumps into my throat. I scored higher than most of the Careers. I scored higher than Neptune. I scored the same as Loyla.

Cloys doesn't stop. "Timber Woode, District Seven, with a score of 7. Parchment Alexander, District Seven, with a score of 8." I realize that I have to start paying attention again to hear the scores of my allies. "Selkie Needle, District Eight, with a score of 5. Seamus Thread, District Eight, with a score of 8." _Not bad, Seamus._ "Millie Rice, District Nine, with a score of 7. Kenny Chaff, District Nine, with a score of 5." _Okay. Millie's could be better. But I suppose that's fine._ "Lila Shepherd, District Ten, with a score of 6. Reggie Hayfield, District Ten, with a score of 2. Persimmon Pricket, District Eleven, with a score of 5. Barley Reed, District Eleven, with a score of 7." _Wow. That's pretty high, considering that he's only twelve._ "Mace Mikels, District Twelve, with a score of 4. Coal Black, District Twelve, with a score of 9."

Ford voices my thoughts. "Nine? Nine! That District Twelve boy got a nine?" Then he looks at me. "I was wrong, Wolfgang. My bad."

Coal got the same score as Neptune. I just smile until I remember: The Seventh Quarter Quell starts tomorrow.

* * *

**Author: Did you like this chapter? Do you like where my story is going? Do you like the idea of wolf-mutts? Are you excited for the Games to begin? If so, please let me know. Click on the review button below. The more feedback I get, the more I enjoy working on this story, the faster I post the new chapters.**


	9. No Ordinary Bloodbath

**Author: WARNING. From here on out, things get violent. If you were expecting something else, then you have obviously not read the Hunger Games. In accordance with the rules of the site, I rate all further chapters at an M level **_**for violence only**_**. I will still continue to filter out bad language as I always have. And with a wolf-mutt as the main character, that guarantees no rated-M romance scenes. I will leave the rating at T on the index page because A) all of the chapters until now have been rated-T material, and I have just given you a fair warning that this is about to change. And B) This is the Hunger Games. Death is expected in this story genre. And if the original story can be categorized as YA, then this fanfic can be rated T.**

* * *

I've woken up. I've eaten breakfast. I've been whisked away in a helicopter and had a tracker injected into my arm. I've been given clothes to wear; a light blue t-shirt, a tan canvas jacket and matching cargo pants, a pair of socks and hiking shoes. I've dressed in them and looked down at my pendant before being loaded into a glass tube. I have been raised from the darkness of an underground hull and into a world that, at first, seemed brighter than the sun. And now here I am, standing on my pedestal, watching the clock count down. Everyone here knows that if we move from our spots before that timer reaches zero, we are blown sky high.

Everyone, that is, except the mentally impaired girl from District Three. I don't know what other explanation exists for what she does; she steps off of her pedestal. BOOM! Suddenly, little bits of Jenny Gizmo are everywhere. The girl from District Ten screams as she watches the person next to her erupt into goo. Two pedestals away from the explosion, I struggle to keep my balance, but I manage. It was loud, and I can't hear anything except the ringing in my ears.

Now I focus on taking in the arena with my eyes in order to keep from feeling helpless. A vast, green field of closely cropped grass splays out in front of me, dotted with bits and pieces of female District Three tribute. In the middle of the field sits the Cornucopia, and objects radiate outwardly like the spokes on a wheel. A path of canteens, tarps and ropes lies between me and the District Ten girl. This path transitions into small and then larger backpacks as it goes closer to the center of the wheel. At the end of each path lies one weapon, and then the Cornucopia.

Twenty-five more seconds on the clock. I look around and pull in a quick summary of my surroundings. Directly behind me, there is a field of exceedingly tall grasses that have some sort of seed at the top. They're probably some sort of wild grain that Barley or Millie could easily identify, and are quite possibly a source of food, from both the grains themselves and the animals that may lurk within them.

Across the field, and at an angle to my right, I see a forest not unlike the one in which I've hunted at home. But this is the arena. Nothing is what it seems.

Ahead and to my left is a different kind of forest. There are trees, but they don't resemble any with which I am familiar. _They all seem… what was that word in the plants book? Tropical? So is that… a jungle?_

Where the tree line for the forest meets the tree line for the jungle, I look up to the sky and see… a building? But it's not in the sky, merely on the horizon. It seems to be on the side of a mountain, right before it juts off into a sheer cliff. And it isn't like any building I have ever before seen. The roof is a strange, stone dome. In fact, the entire structure seems to be made of sand-colored stone. Just below the dome-roof is a circle of enormous, arced windows. If they look large from this distance, then they can probably hold five people on their base up close. The rest of the building stretches out into a standard box-like design, and I realize that the dome is merely a decoration of sorts. Or perhaps it is a tower of some kind. But I'm only guessing.

I try to decide where I should run, as the timer only has five seconds left. _Should I go into the jungle? No. I don't remember enough about plants to try my luck in there. _Four. _Should I venture into the grass? I still remember what Millie said about those snakes, so I guess that's out too. _Three. _There's that building on the cliff-side. But for some reason, I don't trust it. _Two. _The Capitol made wolf-mutts to appear trustworthy, but we weren't. It may be the same with this building._ One. _I guess that settles it. Forest it is._ Zero.  
The world erupts into a flurry of movement as everyone leaps from their pedestals. The girl from District Ten grabs a tarp and a rope and runs off into the grass, her white-blonde hair quickly vanishing in the tall plant-life. I rush down one of the spokes full of supplies and grab two canteens, a rope, and a small backpack. That's when Dream sees me. Thankfully, she doesn't yet have a weapon. I know this because she picks up a chunk of Jenny Gizmo and hurls it at me. I duck, and the piece of corpse hits Atom of District Five on the back of his head. I run past him and towards the forest, morphing along the way. My hearing returns with the protrusion of my wolf ears, as they were not exposed to the blast. And it happens just in time too.

A whizzing noise to my left causes me to stop and turn my head. A knife whirs just past my human ear and I watch it as it strikes dead into the heart of the girl from District Twelve. I hear a voice yell, "Shoot!" I turn my head back in the direction from which the projectile had come. D.C. glares at me. "I was aiming for you, not her. I was planning for a moving target. Next time, don't stop!" I turn and run in the opposite direction and grab the knife out of the girl's chest. Now I have a weapon. I take off for the forest again and end up tripping over something. Fortunately, I am able to fling the knife away in time to keep it from stabbing me. I watch it embed into Octane's calf. Oops. I wasn't even aiming for anything.

I turn around to see what tripped me. It's a pick axe. Coal could use this. I pick it up and fling it onto my shoulder before I take off running again. My backpack is on, the coil of rope is shoved onto one arm, and the canteens hang by their straps from the other. Something flies toward me from behind and gets tangled in the rope. I hear a shout of, "I hope my sister hates you now, Wolfgang!" and I smile. At least I didn't hurt Octane too badly. I don't want to kill anyone if I don't have to… except for maybe Neptune.

Once I'm a good distance into the forest, I stop to see what it was that Octane threw at me. I sit down the pick axe. Then I drop the rope and find that the bloody knife is enfolded within its coils. Grinning, I pick up the knife and plunge it into the soft, moist dirt in order to clean it. I morph back into human form to test for the return of the hearing in my human ears. The ringing has subsided, but now my eardrums throb painfully. The only thing I can hear is my heart beat.

Or so I think until I hear the words, "Don't move, or I ram this spear through your spool of a head."

I don't know what startles me more; the fact that I can hear, the words that I've just heard, or the fact that I know the voice of the person who spoke them. "Seamus," I reply, "it's me."

"Wolfgang?"

I nod. "Yeah."

"Oh, hey man! I got you a spear." He walks over and stoops down next to me with a smile. "Dude, I am so glad I found you. I thought that I was going to have to go it alone out here." His blue-green eyes sparkle amiably. "So, what did you get?"

I pull the knife out of the soil. "This, a little backpack, some rope, two canteens, and a pick axe for Coal."

"Nice," Seamus answers. "I only got the spear and this." He swings a large backpack off of his shoulder.

"Good job. Those weren't easy items," I tout him a bit before picking up the rope and putting it back on my arm. "We should get moving. We need to find food and water before the sun goes down, and a nice hiding place too." I turn and look at him before gripping the spear. "Give me that. You can carry the pick axe."

Seamus releases the spear and his smile vanishes. He puts his backpack back on and lifts the pick axe off of the ground and holds it loosely at his side, swinging it rather leisurely as though it were not a weapon.

I carry the spear in my left hand and the knife in my right. - I remember when I was six and learned about how humans have a dominant hand. It was a strange concept to me then, because all wolf-mutts are ambidextrous. I can do anything with either of my hands, although I tend to prefer my left one. From as often as Lupine sketches, I know that he prefers his right. And Randolph alternates hands. - I keep the knife because I know that I can use two weapons at the same time, whereas Seamus can probably only use one.

The two of us start deeper into the forest together on the first day of the hundred-and-seventy-fifth Hunger Games.


	10. No Ordinary Book

Seamus and I walk through the forest for about an hour before we hear it: the end of the bloodbath.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Eight canons echo throughout the arena. I pause for a moment as I realize that these are people. These are kids. Some of them could be my friends.

Can I call my allies my friends? I think that I can. It really is ironic. I go my entire life without having any friends, and now that I've finally made some, I'll have to watch them all die. That is, if I live that long.

Seamus gives me a funny look. "Wolfgang?"

I look up at him. "Yeah?"

"Is something wrong?" asks the blond from District 8.

A terse laugh of irony bubbles out of my mouth before I can stop it. Of course something is wrong. We're in the Hunger Games! But I only reply, "I'm just hoping that none of those cannons mark the death of any of our allies."

We walk a few minutes, and that's when I notice that Seamus is panting. But humans pant for different reasons than wolf-mutts, and do so without their tongues hanging out. The reasons humans pant are only two: exhaustion and thirst.

"We'll stop here for now," I say, and he sighs in relief. We've just crested a hill, so we have a good view of the land below us in case anyone tries to sneak up and attack. And there are trees up here, like pretty much everywhere in the forest, so we have decent cover too. I decide that this will be a nice place to spend the night. "Actually," I tell Seamus, "we'll stay here tonight. It's a good position."

Seamus exhales gratefully and plops his backpack on the ground. I do the same. I also give him the rope, but I keep my spear, knife and the canteens. "You take inventory of the backpacks. I'll go find us some water."

Seamus looks at me again, and even though I know he's too tired to look for water, he doesn't seem happy with the job I've given him. "Why do I get the easy work?" he asks, sounding somewhat insulted. "I can find water."

I glance at him with a skeptical expression, but I decide not to bring up the fact that he's exhausted and I know it. So instead, I morph. I swivel my wolf ears purposefully and say, "I can hear and smell better than you. It will be easier for me to find water, and easier for me to find my way back."

"What does smell have to do with finding water?" he asks, perturbed. "Water doesn't have a smell."

"Yes it does," I reply. "Your nose just can't detect it. Besides, you probably know more about what's in those packs than I will. I'm delegating tasks based on skill, and I also plan to hunt us down some food on the way back."

At the word 'food', I can see that Seamus finally relents. He shrugs and unzips the large, green back pack that he had procured, and I venture off into the forest.

* * *

By following my nose and my ears, I find a little spring between the roots of a tree. I fill both canteens and take a few long drinks myself. Then I hear it: the angry chitter of a startled squirrel. I look up to the trunk of the tree, and there is the annoyed animal, chattering his teeth off at me. I grin and scramble up the tree after it. It spooks and begins to run away, but it's too late. I have him by the tail. I drop gently to the ground and break the animal's neck so that it will stop making noise.

My descent from the tree seems to have startled a passing rabbit into freezing in its tracks. I throw my knife, and the rabbit is mine too. I walk over to claim my prize. Animals always hang around water. It seems I've found my hunting spot.

Walking back, I notice that someone is running up behind me. I whirl around. I don't see anyone yet, but I keep my ears and eyes trained on that spot. A girl soon bursts out of the trees with wide brown eyes and wild auburn hair. Millie.

"Wolfgang!" she gasps, nearly bumping into me.

"Shush!" I hiss quietly. "Do you want everyone knowing where we are?"

"No. Right. Sorry," she apologizes. "I was running from the District Seven boy who was after me. I'm pretty sure that I lost him though."

I nod. "I'll check." I start in the direction from whence she had come, but turn around for a moment. "Hold this," I hand her the squirrel, the rabbit, and one of the canteens. She nods and takes them, and I have a look around. I sniff the air and strain my ears.

I turn back around. "Yeah, you lost him."

She sighs in relief. "Good." Then she looks at me quizzically. "So, are any of the others with you?"

"Only Seamus," I reply. "He's the only other one that I've found. Although technically, I should say that _he_ found _me_. He's waiting back at the shelter we found. Come on."

I begin to walk again, and Mille follows me with an, "Okay."

"You know," I joke, "you should be more careful walking around in the forest like this. After all, remember the story of Little Red Riding Hood?" I glance over my shoulder to see her reaction.

Millie scrunches up her face. "No, I don't. How does it go?"

I lick one of my fangs and turn back around. "I won't ruin wolf-mutts for you by telling it."

* * *

Little Red Riding Hood was the code name for one of the rebel spies during the Second War. She was from District Ten and was very good with horses. She would often ride all over Panem to deliver messages to rebel groups. She kept the messages in a closed-top basket, and whenever asked, she would say that she was bringing a meal to her grandmother. She got her name from her red hair, her riding skills, and the fact that her actual last name was Hood.

The Capitol was angry with the rebels' ability to communicate. And so, they devised a plan to stop Hood's deeds. They sent a wolf-mutt after her named Bigg Badd. Badd seduced Red Riding Hood and caused her to fall in love with him. He tried to convince her to stop helping the rebels, but she wouldn't. So he killed her. And then, unable to live with himself for harming his mate, he killed himself.

* * *

"Why would the story ruin wolf-mutts for me?" Millie asks.

I smile grimly and say, "Trust me. It just would."

* * *

We make it back to Seamus, and he waves at me before noticing Millie. Then he turns on what I assume he thinks is charm, but judging by the expression on Millie's face, she is not impressed. "Hey Millie," Seamus grins broadly. "I was hoping you survived. You're too pretty to die, after all."

Millie purses her lips and turns to me, holding up the rabbit and squirrel. "Should we get a fire going to cook these?"

I stare at her for a moment before shaking my head. "We don't want to give away our position."

Seamus looks up at me with disgust. "So we're supposed to eat it raw? That's gross." He seems to remember Millie's presence and counters himself. "I can do it! I'm a man. Give me that squirrel and let me bite its head off!" He punches the dirt enthusiastically, and Millie gives him a nauseous look.

"Seamus, what was in the packs?" I ask, stopping his rant before he can make an even bigger fool of himself.

"Oh, right," he looks at me and begins to list the results of his inventory. "We have a sleeping bag, another canteen, a pack of crackers, two protein bars, these weird sunglasses things that don't block the sun – which I found out the hard way, and three extra pairs of socks, and a small package of matches. There's also some bandage and gauze. And there's a book too. I think that's kinda weird because, you know, who has time for reading in a place like this?"

"A book?" I ask. This instantly sets me on high alert. Why would they give us a book unless it contained something we needed to know? "May I see it?"

Seamus nods and pulls something out of the small, purple backpack that I had grabbed at the Cornucopia. He hands me a book made of dark purple leather, with gilded designs on it. The title of the book is, "Myths, Legends, and Tales". I don't get it. Why is it here? I open it and see a short poem. "The Loch Ness Monster".

I sit down and begin to read, just wanting to solve the mystery. Seamus and Millie stare at me like I'm insane. I look up from the book long enough to tell them that they can make a fire if they keep it small and make sure not to put any green leaves on it. They shrug, and Seamus walks off to collect firewood. Millie says that she'll clean the animals, and I hand her my knife. Then I read again.

* * *

_In a lake called Loch Ness lives a monster. This beast is like no other. It has a neck nearly hundred-foot long. It swims in the deep and knows the deep's song. It swallows man whole and devours him true. This is the warning I'm giving to you: Wary ye should be, at the lakeside. For under the waters, who knows what might reside?_

* * *

The poem is over, and the words make only a small paragraph on the bottom half of the page. On the top half though, there is an illustration of a monster with a long neck. It reminds me of a snake. But under the water, it shows the other half of the animal's body. It looks like a huge rock with fins slightly similar to the oars of a rowboat. And it has a tail almost as long as its neck. I remember the words of the poem: _It swallows man whole and devours him true._ And now I suddenly know why they put this book in here. It's to freak us out and make us paranoid so that we go crazy in the arena. Well now that I know what's going on, it won't work. But I place the book back into the smaller backpack anyway. It might be useful for starting a fire.

Seamus comes back with some old, dried wood. I dig a circle in the ground with a stick to serve as a moat. Seamus sets the firewood down as I build a small circle of rocks. Then I look around for something needed to start the fire. "Can I get a piece of tree bark?" Seamus shrugs and rips some bark off of a tree. I flinch because I realize that we're making our being here rather obvious on the first night, and that probably isn't wise. But I realize that the consequences of discovery will be better than having to deal with any sickness that humans tend to contract from raw meat. There are so many advantages to being a wolf-mutt in this arena, and I'm just beginning to see them. No wonder Uncle Abel and Ford think that I can win this thing.

Seamus lays the bark in the middle of the circle of rocks. I take a piece of firewood about the diameter of my wrist and lay it down on the edge of the bark, to serve as a brace. Then, standing and walking over to the backpacks, I take out the book. I open the cover and rip out the title page. Seamus gasps and Millie looks up from her work. I replace the book and return to the unlit fire pit. "Matches," I order Seamus. He digs through the green backpack and finds them as I crumple the piece of paper into a ball and set it next to the brace, on top of the bark. Seamus hands me the matches, and I strike one and set the flame on the paper, which immediately ignites. "Wood," I demand. He hands me a piece, and I lean it against the brace. I do the same with two more pieces, and Seamus tries to hand me another. "Not yet," I grunt.

"Doesn't it need more stuff to burn?" Seamus asks me.

"No," I reply. "We need to leave it open to some air. Exposure to oxygen is more important than wood."

"Oxy – what?" Seamus looks at me in confusion. I smile. Maybe there are some advantages to growing up in District 6 too. I had to learn about oxygen and its function in combustion reactions in order to understand the way engines work. I guess other districts don't learn about oxygen at all.

I sit and watch the flames until the wood catches fire. Millie finishes cleaning the animals, and tells Seamus to go find some finger-width sticks. He smiles at her and runs off, and I resist the urge to chuckle at his enthusiasm. I do believe that he is only happy to be in this alliance because she is here, because he seemed really moody during his reaping and interview.

I put a bit more wood on the fire, and Seamus comes back with the sticks. Mille skewers the animals and holds them over the fire to roast. I notice that she has cut the rabbit into chunks, presumably so that it will cook faster. After the meat is finished cooking, Mille divides the rabbit between Seamus and herself and gives me the whole squirrel. I could have eaten it raw, but it's okay cooked too, so I don't complain. Seamus wants to open the crackers, but I advise that it's better to save them for when we can't find any food in the wild. He scowls and returns the package of crackers to the bag.

Then, it's night. The Capitol anthem plays and we are shown the images of the dead tributes, by order of their district numbers. I am surprised when the first picture is of Mascara Cash. The District One girl is out of the arena already? I find myself wanting to know who took her out. The next tribute is, of course, Jenny Gizmo of District Three. Her district partner, Marcus Sprocket, follows. Then the female from District Five, Sparks Wire. And she is followed by Selkie Needle of District Eight. I look over at Seamus to see if he cares, but he doesn't seem to. I also realize that this means Octane is still alive. Kenny Chaff is dead too and this time I look to Millie, who whimpers at the loss of her chubby, young district partner. "He was so innocent…" she trails off. Returning our gaze to the sky, we see that the next picture is of District Eleven's Persimmon Pricket. This confuses me. The District Ten girl may have been able to survive in the grass into which she ran. But the boy from District Ten? I had assumed that the half-wit would have been one of the first to fall. What's going on? I know who the eighth and final picture is of before it is even shown. I remember watching D.C.'s knife bring about the end of the girl from District Twelve, and sure enough, her photo is the last in the sky. The anthem plays again, and then everything seems unnaturally quiet.

I take the night watch and let Seamus and Millie sleep… all night. Why? Well, wolf-mutts can go for longer periods of time without sleeping than humans can. Personally, I can only go for two or three days, as I am half-human myself. But my father can go for a week, and that's pretty much standard for purebreds.

I pass the night in morph, using my extra ears to listen carefully for any sounds. I keep the fire burning so that Seamus doesn't freeze. He gave the sleeping bag to Millie, who sleeps soundly. But Seamus lies on the ground, shivering. The cold air doesn't bother me, and I wonder if this is the contribution of my wolf genes as well. That's when I hear a rustling sound coming from the trees behind me.

I stand up with my spear at the ready and stare into the trees. The area from which the noise is coming is the least steep of all ways to climb our hill, and I make out a human figure slipping in and out of the trees. It's male, and taller than Neptune. Who's taller than Neptune? _It could be Sapphire. But…wouldn't the Careers all join together and travel in a group? Unless they got split up like we did. Or unless they're surrounding our hill._ I try to listen in all directions at once, but the chaos of trying to orientate my brain overwhelms me. _Did they try to make me do this on purpose? Are they trying to confuse me so that I'm easy prey?_ I frown and refocus on the solitary figure that makes its way up the gentle incline, raising my spear.

The boy comes closer and closer. The snarl is on my lips before I can stop it. And then, the figure rushes at me, and I at him. We both gasp upon seeing the other's face and I drop my weapon. "My bad, Coal. You were downwind. I couldn't pick up your scent," I apologize for startling my comrade.

Coal nods in acknowledgement. "I know I was downwind. I was following a smell myself: fire."

"You know what fire smells like?" I ask skeptically. I've always wondered if humans can smell fire too.

Coal gives a low, quiet laugh. "Yeah. The electricity in District 12 doesn't work very often. Fire is our main source of heating and cooking methods." When I nod, he asks, "So why did you build a fire, anyway? Are you _trying_ to attract Careers?"

I shrug and gesture to Seamus and Millie. "They refused to eat raw rabbit."

Coal looks at me and nods, and then his stomach grumbles. He gives me a slightly wistful look. "You wouldn't happen to have any leftovers, would you?"

I shake my head and whisper, "Not from the way Seamus eats. He wanted to open the crackers! We had food already, and he wanted to open our reserves. It's only the first night!"

Coal looks at me again. "You have crackers?" Slowly, I nod, and go to retrieve the food from the backpack. I hand him eight crackers from the package of thirty, leaving twenty-two. "Thanks," he says before he bites into two at once.

"Did you get anything from the Cornucopia at all?" I inquire. He pulls something out of his shirt and holds it up. It's a neatly folded tarp.

"Okay…" I begin. "I'm sure we can find some use for that."

Coal makes a face and slaps his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "Do you have water?" I nod and hand him a canteen. "Thank goodness for allies," he mutters after a long drink.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot." I stand and walk over to a tree. Against it leans the pick axe, which I pick up and bring over to Coal. "I got this for you this morning."

Coal's eyes brighten up as if I've just given him Pritchard's head on a platter. "Awesome," he breathes in awe. "I can totally use this."

"I know," I chuckle. "I watched you practice. That's why I got it."

"I'll say it again," Coal smirks with a gleam in his eyes. "Thank goodness for allies."

* * *

**Author: Thanks to Tobias Odiar for the nice review. I'm to be writing an obsession-worthy story.**


	11. No Ordinary Chase

**Author: Random note to Tobias Odiar. If the last part of your pseudonym was spelled differently, as in "Odair", it would be like my favorite THG canon character. To all readers, yes, I am a Finnick fangirl. I am very much aware that we are a minority among THG fans. But I don't think people should omit Finnick from possible lionizing just because he didn't go after Katniss. Sadly, he died, which sucks. I hope that that is one of the things the movies change. So, back to Tobias Odiar; I like seeing your name on my reviews because it reminds me of Finnick. So : )**

* * *

The next morning, Seamus and Millie awake surprised to find Coal in our former party of three. "Hey guys," Coal nods at them without smiling. "I was wondering how long you were going to sleep."

I give Coal a sideways glance. He's starting to make me nervous. Last night, he stayed up with me. I told him to go to sleep, but he didn't. He was awake all night, just like me. This morning, I can't help but wonder why he didn't want to sleep. Humans need it, after all. And just like that, I find myself doubting Coal. That's when it hits me: I can't truly trust any of them. After all, this is the Hunger Games. We're all trying to kill each other. So who can we really trust? Not a soul.

This is when I notice that Coal and Seamus are arguing. "What do you mean, we should sleep again? We just woke up. It's morning. It's time to get moving. We can't stay in the same place. Might as well weave ourselves in a loom or something if that's your plan!" Seamus yells much too loudly for my liking.

Coal crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow before speaking calmly. "No. I say we stay here until nightfall, then leave at night and make our way through the forest. Everyone else will be asleep, so it will be less dangerous to move around."

"…Unless we accidentally stumble into the Careers' camp! No way, Coal! If we want to make a stitch, we've got to move the needle," Seamus impugns with some kind of District Eight proverb that no else understands. Meanwhile, Millie folds up the sleeping bag and returns it to the green backpack.

"Trust me," Coal says slowly, as though he were talking to someone unintelligent, "it will be much worse to encounter the Careers during the _day_, while they're _awake_."

"Not true," I counter. Coal and Seamus both look at me, and so I explain my insert. "If we encounter the Careers at night, they will most likely have left Neptune or Loyla on guard because wolf-mutts don't require as much sleep. - Wolf-mutts, thanks to our more delicate senses, are also less likely to become lost than humans. - So, with either Loyla or Neptune on guard at night, they would easily chase us down if we so happened to encroach upon their camp. Then that solitary guard would return to their post with four more tributes out of the running – five if we end up finding Barley.

"But during the day, they have to wait for their allies to catch up with them. D.C. and Dream aren't fast enough to keep up. And I'm betting that it's safe to assume that not even Sapphire could keep up in this forest, with the trees and uneven ground. True, there will be more opponents to fight if it comes to that. But they'd have to catch us first."

Seamus grins and nods. Coal just gives me a blank stare. I speak again. "Coal, your night movement plan would be a good strategy if this arena held only humans. But there are wolf-mutts here." I smirk. "We tend to change the equation. After all, that's the reason we were made."

After a moment, Coal nods once, solemnly. "Alright, then lead the way."

I pause for a moment as I remember something that Neptune had said during training. _"There's only room for one alpha male in my pack."_ At the time, I'd thought it was ludicrous. Me? An alpha? A leader? Not a chance. But now I realize that I really can be, and why Neptune thinks I'm a threat.

I look at Coal and smile. "Okay." I pick up my spear and stab at the ashy remains of our fire, trying to scatter the rocks and other evidence of our presence. As I do this, I delegate tasks. "Coal is carrying the pick axe, as he actually knows how to use it. Seamus, you carry the green backpack. And Millie, keep that knife I gave you last night. It's your weapon now. I'll take the purple backpack." I finish scattering the fire pit and walk over to slide the smaller bag onto my shoulder. "Coal, you also get the rope. Millie carries the tarp. And each of you gets one canteen."

Seamus sulks. "Why don't I get a weapon?"

I glance up at him briefly before explaining, "Seamus, in your hands, that heavy backpack _is_ a weapon."

Seamus raises his eyebrows and lifts the entire large backpack with one arm, looking at it with an expression of newfound respect. I hear Coal chuckle under his breath and Millie exhale in frustration. "Okay pack," I say before I can catch my error of using wolf words, "move out. We'll make a stop by the spring to refill our canteens."

With those words, I start off down the steepest slope. Seamus is the first to follow me. Coal follows after him, and Millie brings up the rear. I lead them in the direction of the spring, morphing to listen carefully. It's then that I freeze. I hear the spring, but I hear something else: voices.

"D.C., are you sure that you saw him come this way?" The voice belongs to Neptune.

"Yes, I'm sure. I followed him with my eyes until he made it into the trees. He was too far off for me to try throwing for him by then. But he came this way."

"What if you're lying?" This voice is Sapphire's.

D.C. sounds insulted when he speaks again. "Why would I lie? That guy is the biggest threat we have in this arena. I want him dead as much as any of you. And more than that, I want my knife back."

I shake my head in dismay. "Bad news, guys. We're not going to the spring after all."

Seamus scoffs. "What? But Wolfgang, we're almost out of water!"

I whirl on him. "Shhh!" I hiss. But it's too late.

"I hear something!" Loyla whispers. "That way."

I know that they're probably a mile off, but a mile can be covered quickly. "Ah, carburetor!" I mumble under my breath. I turn away from the direction of the Careers and begin to run. "Let's move guys!" I shout. "They've found us."

"Pritchard!" Coal exclaims as he starts to run. "I told you guys we shouldn't have broken camp." Seamus and Millie start running too.

"_Did Coal just use the name of his nemesis as a swear word? I'm going to have to try that some time…"_ I run slowly so the others can keep up.

The voices of the Careers are growing fainter. "Clam! They know we're after them." Loyla curses.

"That basshole!" Neptune yells.

"He's not getting away! I'm getting my knife back," D.C. growls.

Sapphire remarks, "There are more important things than your stupid knife, D.C. You have eleven of them. What's one more?"

"I want my entire set of twelve!" D. C. barks back.

I hear the Careers' rapid footfalls. Then, they suddenly stop. "Oh, come on! Are you serious?" D.C. asks irritably.

Dream mumbles, "It was Neptune's idea to bring him along."

Neptune scoffs. "Would you rather carry your own supplies? He's good for that. And it's not like he's a threat. He doesn't even know what's going on."

Dream moans painfully. Is she hurt or something? "Come on, Reggie. And hurry it up, will you? You're already on my bad side for tripping over my head this morning."

Sapphire laughs, "Truly a rude awakening, yes?" Dream just moans again.

"_They recruited that half-wit from District Ten to carry their stuff? So that's why he survived the bloodbath."_ We're still running. The Careers are losing ground. I smile. But I smile too soon.

"They're getting away!" D.C. whines.

"I'll go after them," Loyla snarls. And then I hear footfalls much faster than a human; even faster than a wolf-mutt in their human form. And then I know: Loyla has morphed.

"Crap!" I holler. "Pick up the pace, everyone. Loyla's after us _in morph!_"

"In what?" Seamus asks, panting.

"You remember how she walked onto the stage the night of the interview?" I toss over my shoulder.

"Oh thimble!" Seamus shouts. His footfalls come faster than before.

We keep running. The trees become fewer and fewer until there are none. And then suddenly, I realize that there is no ground ahead of us. "Stop!" I scream, while skidding to a halt myself. A sheer cliff drops off right in front of us. Seamus slips and falls on his butt at my words. Millie immediately drops to her stomach to squelch her momentum. And Coal tries to stop his forward movement by shifting his feet sideways. But it doesn't work. He's skidding and slipping. And then, he falls over the cliff. "Coal!" I shout.

I carefully crawl over to the cliff and peer over the edge. What I see relieves me. Coal dangles from the cliff by the handle of his pick axe, the blade of which he has dug into the rock. "Help," he grunts.

"Toss me the rope," I order.

He shrugs his left shoulder, causing the rope to fall off of it and into his hand. He tosses the rope up to me, and thankfully he isn't too far down for me to catch it. I'm glad that he's using his dominant arm to hang on. He's going to need the strength.

I catch the rope and tie it around my waist before tossing the length down. "Coal, grab on and tell me when to pull."

Seamus is panicking behind me. "Wolfgang, what about Loyla?"

"We're out of ground, Seamus," I yell back. "What do you want to do? Jump?"

Seamus shuts up and I hear Coal grunt, "Now." I turn around and begin to run toward the trees as quickly as I can until I hear Coal sputter, "Okaaay. I'm not on the cliff anymore." I turn back around to see Coal and his pick axe safely on the ground.

"Whoa," Seamus says openly. "I thought that was going to take all three of us."

"I'm not human," I grunt, untying the rope.

As if that were her cue, Loyla comes bursting through the trees, a fully morphed blonde purebred. Millie screams. I've never seen a blonde wolf-mutt before. As a matter of fact, I've never seen a purebred wolf-mutt other than Dad and Uncle Abel. I stare for a moment before remembering that she's here to kill us. And although I hate admitting this about my enemy, she is beautiful.

I'm surprised when she morphs back into her human form instead of tearing us to shreds. She stares me down. "The offer still stands, Wolfgang," she says coldly.

"Offer?" Seamus asks. "What offer?"

Before she can answer him, I growl, "No thanks." It's definitely more tempting this time, with her being ready to kill us and all. But now both my human and wolf sides are in agreement. My human conscience says that I'm doing what's right by standing with my friends, and my wolf says that I must be loyal to my allies.

But it seems that Loyla's wolf-half has no such qualms, because she tosses her head to the side and says, "Then all of you, get the heck out of here. I'll throw them off the trail. Just leave."

I frown, unable to comprehend her actions. "Why are you doing this?" I ask.

She smirks. "I know that you'll change your mind someday. After all, you're one of us. You're not stupid." With those words, she morphs and disappears back into the trees.

I growl a guttural, feral noise in my throat. Coal picks up the rope and begins to loop it around his arm. Millie sits and stares at the trees where Loyla had vanished. Seamus frowns and looks up at me. "She said that the offer still stands. What was she talking about, Wolfgang?"

I look at him. I can't believe that he's so naïve at his age. His blue-green eyes sparkle with some sort of hopeful optimism that makes me feel guilty even though I didn't do anything. I shift my gaze to Millie, who regards me with an entirely different countenance: one of fear. I glance at Coal, and he glares at me darkly while winding up the rope. "What offer, Wolfgang?" Seamus repeats.

I scuff my foot in the dirt and look back at Seamus. "Loyla, Dream and Sapphire want me to join the Careers."

"What?" Millie asks, wide-eyed.

I hold up my hand to signal her to wait so that I can finish. "They don't like Neptune. And I can guess that D. C. is probably annoying too. And so, they want me to team up with them. They'd kill off Neptune and D.C. if I joined them."

"And you didn't do this because…" Coal trails off.

I look at him and shrug. "… Because I have to kill you guys if I want to join them, and that's not fair. I teamed up with you first. I'm the one who started this alliance. I'm not going to abandon it to hang out with a bunch of snobs."

"And – other than the fact that they're snobs – why not?" Coal asks with a glint of humor in his black eyes.

I smile. "I'm a wolf-mutt. We were bred for our loyalty. And I know where mine lies. That's why."

Coal looks at me with something that resembles respect. Millie stares at me with open-mouthed admiration. And Seamus just smiles at me and says, "Yeah, I knew you were one of us. You aren't going to betray us for _them_."

Millie speaks up. "We should get moving."

I nod in her direction. "Alright pack. Let's move out."


	12. No Ordinary Lake

**Author: Okay you guys. Tobias Odair fixed her user name. Yay! I'm really excited to have a fan so amazingly nice. And also, this is the longest chapter yet. Anywho… Back to the story.**

* * *

We drudge on the entire day without refilling our canteens. By evening, even I am panting from thirst. The sun is about to set, and I know that we have to find water soon. I scent the air for even the tiniest smell of water. This is a forest. There are trees. There has to be water somewhere. I finally catch a whiff of what I've been longing for, and I suddenly dash through the trees. "Wolfgang, where are you going?" Millie yells after me. But I can't stop. My life depends on this. All of our lives depend on this.

When I break into the clearing, I can't believe what I find. There's a lake. It's a lake. It's a large, calm, beautiful lake. After becoming this thirsty, this place seems like a divine oasis. I slowly walk to the waters' edge, wondering if this is all some horrid mirage sent by the Capitol to torment me. What if it disappears? I shake my head because I can't let that happen, but I don't increase my speed. I lay down my spear. I slide of the backpack that contains the book. I creep over to the rim of the lake and kneel down. It can't be real, can it? They wouldn't put such a wellspring of precious, life-giving water in a place where they all want us to die. I slide my hands into the water, and the lake doesn't vanish. I cup my hands and bring a mouthful of the sweet, clear liquid to my lips. I wonder, too late, if the Capitol has poisoned this water supply. But I'm alive.

Suddenly overcome with joy and unspeakable thirst, I plunge my head into the lake and hold my breath, taking long gulps under the water. I want to go in and swim. I want to splash and whoop and howl. But I can't do that. The Careers would find us. And I need to go back for everyone and tell them what I've found.

I stand up, and the cool water drips from my now wet hair and onto my neck, a welcome relief from the heat. I turn around and pick up the bag and the spear, heading back in the direction from which I came. I go slowly at first, and then rush with uncontainable excitement, wanting my comrades to feel this sweet, liberating relief.

I burst out of the trees right in front of Millie, who screams. "Wolfgang!" she snaps at me. "You just scared the crap out of me!"

"Sorry, Millie," I rush out in an excited breath. "But you guys are never going to believe what I just-"

BOOM! A canon echoes through the arena, cutting me off. We all jump. To whom did that belong? BOOM! Again, another canon sounds. We wait a little longer, but nothing else happens.

"…found," I finish lamely.

Everyone looks back at me, subdued. "What did you find, Wolfgang?" Millie asks sweetly.

"Water," I reply.

Suddenly everyone's eyes widen, and I smile and say, "Come on," before leading them to the lake.

* * *

"Is this real?" Seamus asks when we get there.

I laugh. "I know, right? I had the same reaction."

Coal just kneels down and bends his head over the lake, sucking water in with his lips and making this really annoying slurping sound. Millie fills her canteen and says aloud, "I wonder who those people were that died."

"Not us, that's the important thing," Seamus grins as he dips his canteen into the lake. Coal pulls up from his drink and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand.

"It might have been Barley," I answer. In truth, I'm wondering if it really was him. But I can't think about that right now. I need to do something to get my mind off of it.

Coal fills his canteen and Millie gets up and walks around, looking at the surrounding plants. She smiles and finds something. "Blackberries," she says softly. She begins to pick the berries and pops a few in her mouth.

"Are you sure we can eat those?" asks Seamus, coming up behind her.

Millie rolls her eyes. "Of course. They're blackberries." She grabs some more and shoves them in her mouth.

I shrug. "Millie is one of our plant experts. If she says we can eat it…" I pull a few berries off of the bush and pop them into my mouth. The tiny fruit squirts surprisingly large bursts of juicy flavor onto my tongue, even though the seeds are a little tough on the teeth. "I claim this part of the bush," I say.

Millie stands at an angle on my right, and she laughs at my statement while picking more berries for herself. Seamus stoops down and begins to eat berries from the bottom of the bush. Coal comes over and joins us, taking fruit from the side of the bush to my left. The berries are really good, and I'm glad that I don't have to hunt for meat tonight. No one else will eat raw meat, and I don't want to have to build a fire again.

Forty-five minutes later, the berry bush is pretty much stripped clean of its fruit. We all sit at the edge of the lake with full bellies, staring up at the stars in the night sky, waiting for it to happen. As if the Capitol knows we are waiting for it – and probably, they actually do – the sky lights up with the symbol of the Capitol, and the anthem plays. The two fallen tributes are shown: Atom Quark from District Five and Timber Wood of District Seven. I breathe a sigh of relief.

"Do you think the Careers did it?" Millie asks quietly.

"Probably," Seamus replies. Coal snorts as though this answer is obvious, and I just continue to gaze at the sky.

"Heck naw," drawls a voice from somewhere behind us. "I did."

We all turn around. I smile when I see a small figure in the darkness, his dark skin blending into the night around him. "Barley!" I say happily. "I was wondering when you were going to find us."

Barley nods at me and teases, "Please, mutt. Did you think I was just gonna leave y'all up in the peach tree?"

"How did you do it?" Coal asks, and I can hear the edge in his voice.

"Hm?" Barley replies. "You mean find y'all? I watched the sky at night for the Capitol broadcast of the dead tributes. Then I'd head toward the nearest place where I saw one light up. It just so happens that I got lucky that tonight and the closest one was y'all's."

"That's not what I meant," Coal explains.

"Oh!" Barley exclaims. "You meant how I killed them other two. That's easy." He begins to explain, "I followed the broadcast on the first night too. It led me to their camp last night, instead of the one I was hopin' for. – Did you guys know that us and the Careers… we ain't the only alliances out there? There's one more of 'em. Or well, there was." Barley stops and snickers before resuming. "This alliance was the District Five guy, the two from District Seven, and your district partner, Wolfgang."

"Octane?" I ask in surprise.

"Yup," Barley goes on. "Her leg is hurt kinda badly. She walks funny."

I nod slowly. _"That would be because of the knife that I accidentally threw at her."_

"Anyways," Barley tells us, "she and the others had their little group. – I came upon them last night and decided to hang around 'til they fell asleep. They left the District Seven boy on guard, and I came up with a plan. So I went and picked a whole bunch of poke berries. I stripped 'em off their stems and waited until the guard got up to go pee. While he was gone, I snuck the poke berries into one of their backpacks and left, hopin' they would think that they were okay to eat because they were in their packs. I slept in a tree until the heat at around noon woke me up today. And this evening, two of 'em are gone, so it seems that my plan worked."

"Poke berries?" Seamus asks.

"They're poisonous," I inform him.

Barley nods at me. "Well at least you remember that. But it takes eatin' quite a few handfuls of poke berries to do anything really bad. That's why it took until this evening for their canons to go off."

"How many did you pick?" Coal asks.

"Probably twenty or more stems…" Barley answers. "But each stem has about fifteen berries on it."

"Twenty times fifteen…" I do the arithmetic in my head. "Goodness, Barley! That's about three-hundred berries!"

Barley nods. "This forest has a lot of poke weeds, that's for sure."

Coal yawns rather loudly. "Alright you guys. I'm going to sleep. Good night." It relieves me when he drifts off.

"I'm going to sleep too," Seamus agrees. He opens the backpack he has been carrying and pulls out the sleeping bag.

"I'll stay up and take the first guard shift with Barley," Millie offers.

I nod in agreement. I could stay up tonight too, but it wouldn't be wise. For all I know, all of my allies will die tomorrow. I'll sleep while I can still do so safely.

* * *

When I wake up in the morning, Coal is keeping watch. Millie and Barley sleep on either side of me, and are probably doing so for warmth. The sleeping bag that Seamus has is made of material that traps all of his warmth in, so that none of it can escape to those around him.

It makes me uneasy that Coal has kept watch two nights in a row. He sees me sit up and waves. "Good morning, Wolfgang," he mumbles.

"How are you doing this?" I ask him.

He gives me a funny look. "Doing what?"

"Keeping guard two nights in a row. Don't you need to sleep?" I ask as I get up and move closer to him.

"I did sleep."

I raise an eyebrow. "Humans usually require more sleep than that."

Coal glares at me.

"I mean… Yesterday!" I try to explain. "You fell off of the cliff and were alert enough to dig your pick axe into the rock. And then, you had the strength to hold on to the rope _and_ bring the pick axe back up with you. I'm sorry, but that just doesn't seem humanly possible, especially after you staying up all night beforehand."

Coal continues to glare at me. "Wolfgang, that's my business, not yours."

I shake my head. "I just don't understand how you could do that."

Coal grunts and looks away. What is he hiding? And more importantly, why?

After a while, his facial expression seems to soften. He looks around and makes sure that the others aren't awake. "I suppose I can tell you. You would be the last person able to judge me for it."

"Okay…" I trail off.

"So, here's the truth about me," Coal mumbles. He shivers a bit, and I think that he's only reacting to the chill of the wind that's coming off of the lake. But that's when I notice it: the black hair. It's growing longer on his arms and shorter on his head. Before I know it, he has morphed. And what's more, Coal Black is a purebred. Coal Black is a wolf-mutt. And creepily… he kind of reminds me of my dad. His morph form is tall and covered with black fur. His head is no longer human, but rather that of a canine. He looks down his muzzle at me and his nostrils flare slightly, taking in my scent. The only difference between Coal and my dad is that Dad's eyes are light brown, whereas Coal's are black. Also, Coal lacks the gray flecks in his fur that my father has, although that's probably only a matter of age.

I stare at him. "Y- you," I stutter, "you could do this, and you still let me lead?"

Coal morphs back into his human form. "Of course. I'm not going to reveal my secret to the others, at least not yet. But I trust you because you said that if it comes down to the two of us, you'll let me win."

I shake my head, baffled. "Not that I would stand a chance against a purebred anyway," I retort. Then I wince. "Your mate."

Coal nods. "You're probably wondering why I didn't get the howl of farewell like you and the District Four mutts?"

I am curious, and so I admit it. "Yeah."

Coal looks up at me. "I'm the only one of my kind left in District Twelve. My dad died in a mining accident. My mom died giving birth to my baby brother. Without her around to nurse him, my brother died too. I'm the only wolf-mutt left in my district. For the longest time, I thought I would always be alone.

"And then, one day as I was walking home from school, Karina Ellis came up behind me and promised me that I would never be alone ever again. I've loved her ever since." He laughs bitterly. "It's in our nature, you know. I couldn't stop loving her if I tried. Her father hates me. Her mother is afraid of me. They both want her to settle down with Pritchard, the mayor's son. And Pritchard wants that too. They've threatened me over and over and over again, telling me to leave Karina alone. But they just don't get it. I can't turn this off. It's not like that. I don't have that human leisure."

Coal laughs darkly again. "You know, we wolf-mutts are supposed to be the strongest thing that the Capitol ever invented. But we're not. We are the weakest. Such a small thing can make us feel so helpless. Pritchard's never going to leave it alone, and he knows that there's nothing I can do to him without getting punished for it. And we wolf-mutts… we don't take kindly to physical forms of punishment. If they tried to do something like whip me…" he trails off, and I can imagine what would happen. The wild animal within us won't stand for being physically beaten on purpose. It goes against our instincts. If someone tried to hurt us, I think it's pretty safe to say that said someone would end up dead.

"And so… what can I do, Wolfgang? How can I fight this? I'll love her forever, even if she changes her mind about me. I can't give her up like that. It's not possible. But my love for her is causing her so many problems… I feel so guilty. It's gotten to the point that I wish I could give her up for her own good, but we don't work that way." He's starting to cry. "I've tried to make myself seem more human, hoping that maybe her mom won't be so scared of me if I act like less of a wolf, hoping that maybe her father will realize that I'm not as bad as he thinks I am. I started favoring my right hand because not many humans are ambidextrous. I managed to control my growls and howls and barely ever morphed. I stopped panting with my tongue out. I stopped wolf-like body language. And did either of her parents notice or care? No.

"And now I'm in the Hunger Games. I bet Mr. and Mrs. Ellis are thrilled. I bet they're sitting back and waiting for me to die, looking forward to it even." Coal sighs in frustration and runs his olive-skinned hand through his dark hair. He wipes the tears off of his face before saying, "And I can't help but wonder if maybe Karina would be better off if I did."

"Coal," I begin, "you do remember that we're in the Hunger Games, right? You didn't just tell that to me. You told that to all of Panem."

Coal nods. "I know. Most importantly, I told it to Karina, and to her parents, and to Pritchard. Most importantly, this speech will be recorded and shared for centuries to come. I hope that everyone sees it. I hope that this moment is remembered forever, this moment when I finally mustered the courage to tell the whole world exactly how I feel about the girl that I love. I hope that her descendants will one day watch the seventh Quarter Quell and say to one another, 'He loved our great-great-grandmother.' If I'm going to die here, I want to be remembered for what I did while I was alive. And so far, loving Karina has been my only great accomplishment."

We're both quiet for a long while. Then Coal speaks again. "Wolfgang?"

I look up at him. "Hm?"

"I haven't decided what I think is really best for Karina yet. But if it comes down to you and me, and I ask you to kill me, would you do that, too?"

I stare at him in awe. "Do you really think she would be happy if you did that?"

He shakes his head. "Of course not, but I think that it might be something that I have to do."

I swallow my saliva and nod. "If you're completely sure of that decision if and when the time comes, then I'll do you that favor."

Coal nods solemnly. "Thank you."

We both start at a noise coming from the direction of the others. Barley has rolled over and bumped into Millie, and the two of them are beginning to wake up. "I'll wake up Seamus," Coal says. He goes and grabs one of the canteens and stoops by the edge of the lake to fill it. Pulling back the edge of the sleeping bag, Coal dumps the canteen of water onto Seamus' face. Seamus sputters in shock and sits up, blinking. Coal laughs, and Barley looks over at what has happened and laughs too. He pokes Millie on the shoulder and gestures for her to look. When she does, she presses a hand over her mouth to stifle her own giggles. Everyone else may be laughing right now, but I'm still thinking about the serious conversation I had with Coal. If and when the time comes, will I really be able to do what he has asked?

"I'm gonna go get us some breakfast," Barley says, standing up.

"I'll go with you," Coal offers, "as a guard."

Barley looks annoyed by the suggestion, but concedes anyway.

"I'm going to take advantage of this lake and take a bath," Millie grins sleepily. "Maybe the cold water will help wake me up."

Seamus stares at Millie as she takes off her jacket and tosses it to Barley. "You can carry breakfast back in this."

"Thanks," Barley says. "Come on, Coal."

Coal refills the canteen that he had dumped on Seamus' face and grabs his pick axe. Then he and Barley head off into the trees.

Millie stares at Seamus, who is still staring at her. I know what he's thinking, and I'm not going to let him. "Seamus," I order, "fold up the sleeping bag and return it to the backpack. Put the rope and the tarp in there as well."

I hear him groan in frustration, but he does as he's told. He folds up the sleeping bag and stuffs it into the backpack. I hear Millie holler, "Thanks, Wolfgang." Then there's the sound of the knife and her clothes hitting the sand. It's followed by the sound of a body plunging into water.

I walk over to the place where I had left my spear and the purple backpack, returning both objects to my person. I see Seamus out of the corner of my eye, shoving the tarp into the green backpack. He tucks the rope inside after that and zips the pack shut.

I walk over to Millie's clothes and pick up the now sandy knife, and go dip it into the water to wash it off. Seamus is refilling our other two canteens. "I should have spread that tarp out to sleep on last night, but I forgot that we had it," I grumble. "Now I've got sand all over me." After cleaning the knife, I put it in the bag with the book, to make sure we don't forget it. We don't want to leave a weapon behind for another tribute to find. _"I'll give it back to Millie when we start walking again."_ I stand up and try to dust the sand from my pants before picking up my spear again. Seamus hands me a canteen and glares at me. I don't care. I'm not going to condone him looking at Millie while she's naked.

Suddenly, from the lake, there's a huge splash, and Millie screams. Seamus and I both look in her direction, and Seamus hollers some sort of District Eight swear word that I can't make out over the sound of a horrid roar. There, in the lake, is a huge creature with a long neck. It roars ferociously before bending its head down toward Millie. The monster opens his mouth and swallows her whole, and then starts swimming to where Seamus and I stand on the edge of the lake.

"Run!" I command. Seamus whirls around and runs for the green backpack, swinging it onto his shoulder while he's still moving. I follow him and quickly catch up thanks to my wolf-mutt speed. Millie's canon sounds, and I grimace at the thought of being eaten alive. It's then that I recall the words: _He swallows man whole and devours him true._ Oh crap. This is the Loch Ness monster.

* * *

**Author: Like my story? Let me know. Press the review button below. I allow anonymous too, so there's no excuse for you not to review. ;) **


	13. No Ordinary Field

We're running, running for our lives. A voice sounds out from the trees. "Wolfgang!" It's Coal. "Wolfgang, what happened?" Coal steps into view, and Seamus and I stop running. "Barley and I heard the canon. Why are you guys so freaked out?"

Seamus gasps for breath and sputters, "Millie… she's… And that thing! What the…" He gestures wildly with his hands. "What the heck was that?"

"The Loch Ness monster," I supply, stunned.

"The what?" Seamus looks at me like I'm crazy.

In response, I pull out the "Myths, Legends and Tales" book and open it to the first page.

Seamus points to the black and white illustration. "That! That was the thing that ate Millie!"

"Yeah…" I trail off.

"Let me see that," says Coal. He grabs the book from my hand and stares at the picture. Then his eyes scan the bottom of the page, and I can guess that he's reading the poem. He looks over the pages at me. "And this thing… ate Millie?"

"Oh, cockleburs!" Barley comes through the tress. "Millie's dead? That was her canon?"

I nod. Coal shows Barley the book. "This thing ate her," he explains. Barley's jaw unhinges and his eyes widen. The poor kid is terrified.

"So…" Seamus begins, "I think it's safe to say that we're not going back to the lake?"

I snort. "No kidding."

Coal nods and speaks as he hands the book back to me, "After all that has happened within the past few days, I suggest that we move on to another section of the arena. I wasn't the only one that surveyed our surroundings on the first day, right? There are three other areas we could go to."

I take the book and agree. "Yes. There's the jungle, the cliffs with that strange building, and the field of tall grass. We can do this. Where should we go?" I slide the book back into the pack.

"Building?" Seamus looks up. "I say we go to a nice, safe place with four solid walls. Anyone else like that idea?"

"Of course I do, Seamus," Coal remarks. "But sadly, that's not an option. This is the arena. There is no such thing as a safe place in here."

"I say we should go to the jungle," Barley drawls. "Trees are good cover. Jungles have lots of trees."

"I agree with Barley," I say.

"Sounds good to me," Coal shrugs.

"So… how do we get there?" Seamus asks.

That's actually a good question. We can get to the jungle by entering it from the area where it meets the forest, but that requires going back the way we came, and heading towards the Careers. We could cut across the meadow where the Cornucopia is, but that would force us to be out in the open without any cover. And then there's cutting through the grass field, which may or may not contain poisonous snakes and/or bugs. But at least snakes and bugs aren't deliberately trying to kill us, so I guess that decides our route. "We'll go through the grass field. It's the safest path," I reply.

Coal and Barley nod, and Seamus looks disappointed. The blond from District Eight sighs, "I guess if we really can't go to the building, then I don't really care where else we go."

* * *

And so, we begin to walk in the direction of the field. As we travel, Coal asks, "So what's the deal with this book?"

"It was in the bag that I got from the Cornucopia," I explain.

"So, it has a purpose?" Coal sounds surprised.

"I guess so," I reply.

"Why didn't you tell us about this before, Wolfgang?" Seamus asks.

"Well," I admit, "at first I thought that it was only here to freak us out and make us too paranoid to trust the natural resources. But now, it's obvious that the book is a warning for something real."

BOOM! A canon echoes throughout the arena.

"Who do you suppose that was?" Barley asks.

"Who knows…" Coal trails off.

I shake my head. "It doesn't matter. Let's go."

As we travel, Barley picks some random edible plants. I catch a rabbit and split the raw meat with Coal. Seamus eats one of our two protein bars, and we all sip from the canteens.

By nightfall, we have arrived at the border to what is, according to Barley, a wheat field. There are two decently tall trees right before the forest ends into a sea of tall grain. "It's getting dark," Seamus says nervously. "We should make camp."

"Yeah, I'm exhausted," Barley adds.

Coal turns to me. "Shouldn't we keep going? We've only just arrived."

"That's exactly why we should stop. We'll be entering an unfamiliar area, and it will be dark. We shouldn't take the risk of running into whatever traps may be in there when we can't see. It's not logical." Of course, Coal and I can see perfectly. But I'm not entirely sure if humans can see well in the dark or not.

"Good idea, Wolfgang," Seamus smiles happily and plops his backpack and then his butt onto the ground.

"I'll keep watch tonight," I volunteer before anyone else can. I feel uneasy about this book being a reality. I want to read more of it, just in case there are other things about the arena disclosed within its pages. And I want to read it without an audience.

Seamus pulls out the sleeping bag and the tarp. Then, before Seamus can do anything else, Barley rushes forward and grabs the sleeping bag, scurrying up one of the trees. "G'night, y'all," he smiles as he situates the sleeping bag into the branches and climbs inside.

Seamus groans in frustration before unfolding the tarp and laying it out on the ground. He stretches himself across the blue covering and pulls half of it over top of himself like a blanket. Coal sits on the ground and leans up against the tree in which Barley is perched.

Then the Capitol anthem plays and two pictures are shown in the sky. I can tell that everyone is still awake by the silence of a collective holding of breath. The first picture stuns me, as it belongs to Octane. She must have been the one to whom that cannon belonged earlier today – the one about which I said, "It doesn't matter." I hang my head in shame as I wonder what everyone back in my district will think when they hear the words that I said about Octane's death. When I raise my head again, the picture is of Millie. All in all, today has been horrible. But what did I expect? After all, this is the Hunger Games. It's more than that, even. This is the Quarter Quell.

Soon after that, my allies fall asleep. I stare at them all and wonder about their stories. I know about Coal, with the romance that seems so forbidden. But what about Seamus? He is the only tribute in this Quell that was drawn from a bowl at random. I know that he has siblings and a single mother, and he works as a carpet porter. But what else do I know? Nothing. And how about Barley? What did this twelve-year-old kid do to merit someone sending him to the Hunger Games? He couldn't have done something that terrible.

Unable to think about this any longer, I open my bag and pull out the purple book. I let my fingers flip through the pages until I stop at the title page of a random story. I cock my head to the side as I read the title. "The Greek Myth of Pandora's Box" it says. There is a picture of a woman crying over an empty box. The picture intrigues me, so I read on.

* * *

_Once up a time, a long time ago, Zeus ordered Hephaestus (Aphrodite's husband) to make him a daughter. It was the first woman made out of clay. Hephaestus made a beautiful woman and named her Pandora. _

_Zeus sent his new daughter, Pandora, down to earth so that she could marry Epimetheus, who was a gentle but lonely man. _

_Zeus was not being kind. He was getting even. Epimetheus and Prometheus were brothers. Zeus was mad at one of the brothers, Prometheus, for giving people fire without asking Zeus first. _

_Zeus gave Pandora a little box with a big heavy lock on it. He made her promise never to open the box. He gave the key to Pandora's husband and told him to never open the box. Zeus was sure that Epimetheus' curiosity would get the better of him, and that either Epimetheus or his brother would open the box. _

_Pandora was very curious. She wanted to see what was inside the box, but Epimetheus said no. Better not. "You know your father," Epimetheus sighed, referring to Zeus. "He's a tricky one."_

_One day, when Epimetheus lay sleeping, Pandora stole the key and opened the box._

_Out flew every kind of disease and sickness, hate and envy, and all the bad things that people had never experienced before. Pandora slammed the lid closed, but it was too late. All the bad things were already out of the box. They flew away, out into the world._

_Epimetheus woke up at the sound of her sobbing. "I opened the box and all these ugly things flew out," she cried. "I tried to catch them, but they all got out." Pandora opened the box to show him how empty it was. But the box was not quite empty. One tiny bug flew quickly out before Pandora could slam the lid shut again. _

"_Hello, Pandora," said the bug, hovering just out of reach. "My name is Hope." With a nod of thanks for being set free, Hope flew out into the world, a world that now held Envy, Crime, Hate, and Disease – and Hope._

* * *

I don't understand this weird story. I'm pondering what it could possibly mean when I hear a noise coming from the wheat field. It's a laugh, but it's far from a happy one. It is a mad, maniacal laugh. I tuck the book back into the pack and leap to my feet. When I do, the girl from District Ten – Lila Shepherd – wanders out of the tall plants, the wheat rustling behind her. Her white-blonde curls are dirty and filled with wheat heads. Her eyes sparkle like a madwoman's. And she is wearing a pot on her head. _"A pot? Where did she get the pot? She didn't have it when she left the Cornucopia."_

Lila stumbles over to me. "You're the wolf-mutt," she slurs. "T-the nice one th-that didn't j-j-join the Careers… You… I want to join you… and your friends!" she gestures to the sleeping Seamus and Coal.

I smell it all over her: the scent of death. "First, answer two questions for me."

"Okay," she rolls her head around in what I guess is supposed to be a nod.

"Where did you get the pot?" I ask first.

"Oh, this?" she smiles stupidly. "I got this from the bag. They're all over the place. They have things in them, in there…" she sloppily gestures to the field behind her. "Things… almost got me," she mumbles nearly incoherently. "Look." She pulls up the sleeve to her jacket, and I feel the blood drain from my face at the sight of what she is showing me. There, right on her wrist, are two puncture wounds that look very much like a snake bite. The skin around the wounds has swollen and is a rather angry shade of red.

Lila takes the pot off of her head and flings it onto the ground at my feet. "You can have it," she slurs. "What's mine is yours and… now that we're allies… I- I- I!" Then, quite suddenly, she drops to the ground. A canon sounds. Lila Shepherd is dead.


	14. No Ordinary Betrayal

I stare at Lila's dead body. The helicopters that take the bodies away can't do so until we clear out of this area. And so, I examine her. The bite on her arm is definitely a snake bite. I have never heard of anything else that could leave a wound like that. Although, I'm not sure what a wound from one of those scorpion things would look like. But whatever gave her the wound is the thing that killed her. There are no signs of any other injuries. She could have eaten something too, but the bite seems more likely.

I keep watch for the rest of the night, but nothing else happens. Barley is the first to wake up, as he rolls over a bit too far and almost falls from the tree. "Whoa!" he yelps, clinging to a branch for dear life. "Wolfgang, help!... Oh, wait. Never mind. I think I can do this." I watch Barley place his foot on Coal's head.

Coal's eye snap open. "What the-?" he moves his head, and Barley stumbles, falling from the tree and pulling the sleeping bag with him.

"Ow!" Barley rubs his shaven head before standing up. He turns to look at me, and ends up looking past me. "Holy hornworms!" he exclaims as his eyes rest on Lila's dead body. "What happened?"

Coal looks from the body, to me, and back again. "Did you kill her?" he asks.

"No," I answer honestly. I point to the wheat field. "Something in there did."

"We should probably get moving," Coal says. "They'll want to take the body."

"Yeah," I respond.

Coal stands and walks over to Seamus, who is curled up inside the tarp. Coal kicks him. "Get up."

"Ow!" Seamus grunts, rolling over. His sits up and pushes the tarp off of himself. "What the thimble was that for?"

"We need to leave," Coal replies gruffly. "There's a dead person in our camp, and the helicopters can't take the body until we clear out."

"Who died?" Seamus asks frantically, scrambling to his feet. He looks at Barley and me, and a confused expression passes over his face. Coal steps out of the way and Seamus now has an unobscured view of Lila. "Oh," Seamus mumbles.

* * *

We pack our things quickly and rush for the field. Barley notices the pot that I'm carrying. "Where did you get that?" he asks.

"Lila had it when she stumbled into our camp last night. She said that she wanted to join us, and offered the pot as payment. Then, she fell down dead," I answer him.

"Great! We have a pot now!" Barley grins. "There are a lot of plants that can only be safely eaten if you boil them."

I raise my eyebrows at his obvious lack of concern over Lila's death. I can't blame him. This is the Hunger Games. One more dead tribute means that his odds of survival just went up.

We walk for about forty-five minutes when Coal spots it. "What the heck?" he mutters. When I come closer, I know why he is shocked. There is a backpack, lying out in the middle of nowhere. It is solid black, and it has a note on it.

I read the note. _Pandora's Hope: A box of crackers._

Seamus apparently reads it too, because he smiles broadly and exclaims, "Crackers! Yay!" He reaches toward the backpack.

"Don't touch it!" I hiss. Everyone gives me funny looks.

"Why not?" Seamus whines.

"I read a story in the book last night," I reply. "It was about a woman named Pandora who opened a box that released bad things into the world. At the end of the story, only one good thing came out of the box, and that was hope. The note says, 'Pandora's hope'. I can guess that the crackers aren't the only thing in the bag, but they are probably the only good thing."

Coal and Barley look at me and nod solemnly. Seamus crosses his arms over his chest and sulks. "But we need food to live. Why would they put stuff in there to kill us?"

"Seamus," I answer, "this _is_ the Hunger Games. We're supposed to die."

"That's not fair," Seamus pouts.

"Who said anything about the Hunger Games being fair?" Coal asks caustically.

* * *

We continue on for a while, leaving the backpack behind. After a while, Seamus mumbles, "I'm bored. Can we talk?"

"You have a mouth, Seamus," I reply. "Feel free."

"Um… okay…" Seamus thinks for a moment. "I guess we can talk about our lives. I'll start."

Coal and I exchange a glance, and I understand. Coal doesn't want to let the others know that he is a wolf-mutt. I nod, and he nods back. I won't tell them.

Seamus starts talking. "Let's see… I have four little brothers and three little sisters, and my mom. That's my family. Um… I work as a carpet porter, and-"

Barley cuts him off. "What happened to your dad?" The twelve-year-old seems intrigued.

Seamus develops a hard frown on his face. I haven't seen him look this serious since training. "My dad… He did something. I don't know what it was, and I don't want to know. The thing that he did… it's the reason that he's an Avox. He's probably serving some Capitol person their bread and cheese. He's probably… watching me."

We all stop. Coal looks surprised. Barley nods sympathetically. The youngest boy mumbles, "And I thought that what happened to my dad was bad."

"What happened to your dad, Barley?" I ask.

Barley looks up at me. "One day, he was pickin' peaches. He was too old to be climbin' trees, but the peacekeepers made him do it anyway. He fell and… his back broke. He's been paralyzed from the waist down ever since."

I look at Barley in shock. Then, I turn to Seamus. I didn't know that they had such severe pasts. It makes my life look easy.

"It's okay, though," Barley smiles. "Mama works, and I do too. We keep my two little sisters fed, and take care of Papa. If I win the Games, we might be able to have Papa's back fixed. Wouldn't that be great?" Barley grins brightly.

Seamus frowns. "If I win, my family might be able to get some good food. It's tough to feed so many mouths when only two people work, and I really don't want my little brothers to have to get jobs as station runners." His jaw clenches, and that's when I realize that this conversation can lead to discord among my pack. If we start comparing our reasons to live, we'll only end up wanting to kill each other.

"Well," I say, "we should work together to take out the Careers."

"And what about after that?" Seamus asks in a bit of a sinister voice.

"After that is…" I pause for a moment, trying to think of what to say. "After that, is after that. We shouldn't rush things." I can tell from that look in his eye that he's considering killing me. That makes sense. In his eyes, I'm the biggest threat here, because he doesn't know that Coal is a wolf-mutt too.

"Let's go," Seamus says darkly.

We continue to walk. We find another backpack. Then there's another, and another. Seamus begins to complain. "Why won't you guys let me carry a weapon?"

"You're too strong to need one," I tell him.

"You're a half wolf-mutt," he points out. "You're stronger than I am."

"Yep," I nod. "And I have better vision and hearing too. I could kill an enemy from about a mile off with a clear shot. Can you?"

Seamus frowns and grumbles something that I can't hear.

* * *

Soon, it is night. We all make camp to sleep. We can't light a fire. That's too risky. The entire field could burst into flames, and then what would we do?

Barley tears down stalks of grain and lays them on the ground. He lays the tarp over the sheaves and folds it in half, creating a makeshift bed. He hands Seamus the sleeping bag.

Seamus looks at the object in his hands before tossing it to me. "You stayed up pretty late last night, Wolfgang. You should get some sleep. I've slept every night that we've been in the arena. It's time that I start pulling my weight. I'll keep watch tonight." I don't like the tone in his voice.

Coal glances from me to Seamus, and then says, "I'll stay up tonight, too, just in case Seamus gets into trouble." Coal looks back at me, and we talk with our eyes. He knows what's happening, and I'm glad that he's trying to protect me. Pack loyalty is a must if any of us are going to come out of this thing alive.

I lay in the sleeping bag as the sky plays the anthem and shows Lila's picture. Then, I drift off to sleep.

* * *

I awake to the sound of a canon. I bolt straight up, and Coal is talking to me. "Seamus kept trying to get into the weapons. I made sure that he couldn't get to them. He got angry and took off around thirty minutes ago. He hasn't come back."

Barley gets up and rummages through the green backpack, pulling out the weird sunglasses and putting them on. "These are night-vision glasses," he says. "I wear these sometimes when they want us to harvest the orchard during the night."

I nod, but I really don't pay Barley much attention right now. Seamus could be dead. And even if he was sending me murderous looks all day, I don't want one of my pack members to die tonight. "Which way did he go?" I ask Coal.

Coal nods to me and takes off in a certain direction. I scramble to my feet and follow him. Barley follows too. As we run, I hear another canon sound. What's happening? Suddenly, Coal stops in front of us. I walk around him and see it.

Seamus lies next to a black backpack. With my excellent night vision, I can see the words on the note attached to the bag. _Pandora's Hope: knives_. Then, I see the cause of Seamus' death. Scorpions are crawling everywhere. They must have come out of the backpack. "Go back! Run! Scorpions!" I hiss.

"What?" Coal asks, baffled.

"They're poisonous bugs. Their stings kill. They're the reason Seamus is dead. Run, run!" I take off back in the direction from which we had come. The others follow me, and we soon make it back to camp.

After catching my breath, I sit down on the sleeping bag. "I can't feel sorry for him," I mutter. "He died because he was trying to kill us. The note on that backpack said 'knives'. He wanted a weapon. He wanted to kill us. But instead, he opened Pandora's Box."

My last two pack mates stared at me. "We should sleep," I say. Barley takes off his glasses and puts them on the ground next to his bed. I settle back into the sleeping bag. "Coal, keep watch," I order. He nods. Just before I drift off to sleep again, I wonder who the other canon was for.


	15. No Ordinary Garden

In the morning, we awake and continue on our way. Barley seems a bit subdued, and I assume that this is because we lost Seamus. He must be wondering what we're all wondering: who's next? I try not to focus on this. Since we've stayed on the border of the field, close to the open area that contains the Cornucopia, we are very close to the jungle area. I can see the trees on the far horizon. I can smell the strong, noisome scent of flowers. The jungle is close.

As we walk through the field, Barley finds plants with reddish purple berries and pulls the entire plants up by the roots. I realize what he's doing, and shout at him. "Barley, those are poke plants! Have you gone mad? You know those are poisonous."

Barley laughs. "I know, Wolfgang. I'm the one who used the berries to kill those other tributes, after all. The thing about poke is the _berries_ are poisonous. However, you can boil the stalks of the plants and eat them. They're fine as long as they're cooked and their berries are left alone." As if to prove his point, he picks the clusters of berries off of the poke stalks and tosses the clusters to the ground. "We can do that now that we've got a pot," he explains.

* * *

We arrive at the tree line a little after noon, if the sun in this arena is to be trusted. As we walk into the jungle, a cannon sounds. Barley shouts as a body falls from one of the trees above us. It's the male tribute from District Seven. Alexander Parchment lies on the ground with a purple flower in his hand. The message is clear: don't touch the flowers.

We continue on through the jungle. There are vines and flowers everywhere. Strangely, there are no animals. There's not a single chirp from a bird, not a single buzz from an insect. It's eerie. What kind of place is this that not a single creature lives here? We came to find safety from the Careers, but what if this place is even more dangerous than those other tributes?

We have been walking non-stop for a long time, so we decide to take a rest. Coal goes off to search for firewood. Meanwhile, I hunt for water. Seamus had taken one of our canteens on his little walk last night, so we only have two left now. I bring them both. I also bring Lila's pot. It doesn't take me long to find a spring. As I look around, I hope to find an animal here. Living creatures always stay near water. It's a vital necessity of life, after all. As I fill the pot, it unnerves me that there are no animals here either. I frown while filling the canteens before heading back to our little camp.

When I arrive, I see that Barley has arranged some stones in a circle in preparation for the fire. Coal returns with the wood, and Barley strikes the match and starts the blaze. I sit the pot near the fire, and Barley puts the poke stalks inside. While we wait for the water to boil, I check and reorganize our inventory. We have one protein bar, three pairs of socks, our matches, some bandage and gauze, the night vision glasses that only Barley really needs, and eleven crackers. We have the tarp, the rope, and two canteens. We also have a pot, and the book.

"It's done," Barley says. Coal and I peer into the pot. The stalks still look the same. "The water and the pot are still really hot," Barley explains. "We might have to wait for them to cool down."

I get an idea and take those pairs of socks out of the backpack. Sliding three socks over my left hand, and three socks over my right, I return to the fireside. Sometimes engines are still hot when I work on them back home. I would always use gloves to ward off the heat. I am about to explain my logic when Coal picks up the pot by the handle.

"We need to put out the fire anyway," he says. "We should just pour the water onto the fire. If we angle the pot right, the food should still stay inside." Coal tilts the pot, and water flows out of it and into the fire, squelching most of the flames. He must have titled it too far, because the poke falls out of the pot too and gets burned by the remaining fire. "Oops," he looks embarrassed as he sits the pot down and runs his left hand through his hair.

"You dummy!" Barley shouts. "That was our lunch. We've done skipped breakfast this mornin', and now you just go and burn our lunch!"

"Sorry…" Coal mumbles.

I laugh. "Oh well. We still have some crackers and a protein bar. If you're hungry Barley, you can have some."

Barley nods and shuffles over to the backpack. He pulls out the package of crackers and eats the rest, following the food with a long swig from one of the canteens. I take the socks off of my hands and put them back into the bag. Barley dumps the rest of his canteens out onto the fire, and we gather our things and begin moving again. Coal gently swings his pick axe while we walk. I use my spear as a walking stick.

* * *

It's almost sunset when I smell it: the strong, sweet aroma of fruit. I hear the chirping of birds and the buzzing of insects. Still other sounds from strange animals that I've never heard before come echoing through the trees. I turn in the direction of the sounds and scents, and Coal and Barley follow me. Within five minutes, we are at the edge of paradise.

Fruit-bearing trees and bushes are everywhere. Birds call to one another from among the trees. Insects fly by and make annoying noises. Strange, furry creatures with long tails hang from the trees by these tails and screech at each other. There was something about them in the books during training. What were they called?

"Monkeys…" Coal whispers in awe.

Yes, that's what they are called. And besides monkeys, there are squirrels and rabbits and raccoons. There are also other tropical animals, the likes of which I have never seen. A deer walks past. A deer! This place is amazing. No wonder there are no animals in the rest of the jungle. All of the food is right here.

Barley wanders around and stares at the plant life with his mouth gaping open. "Wolfgang!" he turns to me and exclaims happily, "All of these fruits are edible!"

That's when I stop and think: this is a bad place. There is plenty of food and a lot of animals. Our first impression tells us to trust this place. That's exactly why we shouldn't. The lake seemed trustworthy too, until the monster within it swallowed Millie alive. And to anyone that didn't have a "Myths, Legends, and Tales" book, the backpacks in the field would have appeared trustworthy too.

I glance at Coal, and he locks his eyes with mine. I know that we are thinking exactly the same thing.

Barley picks an apple from a nearby tree and bites into it. He smiles and moans, "It's so good."

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Coal admonishes. He walks over to a bush and plucks a berry. He pops it into his mouth, chews, and swallows. Then he looks at me. "It seems okay."

I nod and look at the tree to my right. It's a pear tree. I take a piece of its fruit and bite into it, leaning against the tree's trunk and sliding down it into a sitting position. I reach into my purple pack and pull out the book. I watch Coal for a moment as he takes the socks out of the backpack and stuffs them with fruit before tying them onto the belt loops of his pants. Then I open the book, and I read.

* * *

_The Garden of Eden – Abridged Version_

_In the beginning of the world, when God had finished creating man and woman in His image, He placed them in a garden called Eden. The man's name was Adam, and the woman's name was Eve. He told them that they could eat from every tree in the garden, save one. The tree in the middle of the garden, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, was the tree from which they could not eat. God told them, "If you eat from that tree, you will surely die."_

_In the garden, there was a crafty serpent. He said unto the woman, "Did God say that you could not eat of any tree in the garden?"_

"_No," Eve replied. "It is only of this tree which we may not eat: the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. If we eat of it, we will surely die."_

"_No," the serpent told her. "You will not surely die. You will become like God, and know what it is that God knows. You will know about good and evil."_

_When Eve saw the fruit on the tree, and noticed that it was pleasing to the eye, she took of the fruit and ate it. She gave it to Adam, and he ate it. It was then that sin and death first entered the world._

* * *

After reading this story, I bolt up in alarm. I knew that this place couldn't be trusted! I look up from the pages just in time to see Barley, sitting in a tree, bite into a strange fruit. It looks like a blue peach. Is there such a thing as a blue peach? I get my answer when Barley's eyes widen and a cannon sounds. His dead body falls from the tree and lands on the ground with a thud.

I run over to him. "Barley! Barley!" I shout. But it does no good. He is already gone. The sun slides beneath the horizon, and the world goes dark. I look up into the tree of the forbidden fruit, and there I see it: a snake coils itself around the branches of the tree.

Coal runs over. "Wolfgang, what happened?" He stares in shock at Barley's dead body.

I shake my head, close the book, and slide it back into my backpack. I take the empty canteen from Barley's corpse. "Don't eat the blue peaches," I say.

* * *

We walk through this Garden of Eden for a while longer. We find a stream and fill our canteens there. Of all of my allies, Coal and I are the only ones left. I feel like I've failed as a leader. A good alpha could keep his pack alive. I have to remind myself: this is the Hunger Games. We're supposed to die.

Coal and I are sitting on the edge of a terrible paradise when the Capitol anthem plays and the symbol for the Capitol lights up the sky. The first picture surprises us. It's Dream Arne of District Two. Was she the one to whom that other cannon belonged last night? She must have been. The next picture is of Alexander Parchment. He had been one of Octane's allies. He was the last one of that group, and he died earlier today. Next comes the picture of Seamus, and I can't suppress my growl. He died trying to betray us. Finally, Barley's picture appears in the sky. I shake my head and stare down into my lap.

"We're it," Coal voices my thoughts.

"No," I correct him. "The Careers are still here. They have that half-wit from District Ten carting around their stuff too."

"And… that's it?"

"Yup."

Coal lets out a tense sigh. "May the odds be ever in your favor."

"Our favor, Coal. May the odds be ever in _our_ favor."

Coal looks at me with his black eyes. They glint with something unspoken, and for once, I don't understand what he's trying to say. "Yeah, sure Wolfgang," he whispers.

After a long pause, he speaks again. "We don't need to sleep tonight. Do you want to go finish this?"

I shrug and stand up. "Why not?" I morph, and the sounds coming from behind us in the garden grow louder.

Coal stands and morphs as well. His strong, purebred wolf-mutt form angles its face up toward the moon. Then, Coal Black lets out a long howl. I smile and follow his example. We will finish the one-hundred-and-seventy-fifth Hunger Games tonight.

* * *

**Author: Please note that this chapter is not a comment on Christianity. Rather, it is a comment on the type of world that Suzanne Collins created in her book series. I am a Christian and do not believe that the Bible is merely a myth or legend as this chapter might imply. However, regardless of whether the Bible is true, the world that Suzanne Collins made is atheistic. A thing like the Hunger Games would not be allowed in a Christian world. Therefore, it is easy to conclude that Panem is not a set in a Christian world. If Panem, and thus the Capitol, are not Christian, none of the things that they make would be either. This is why the story of the Garden of Eden is in a book of myths: the book was made by the Capitol. Again, this chapter is not a comment on the validity of Christianity. Thank you.**


	16. No Ordinary Victor

Coal and I dash through the trees. We're both following it: instinct. Somehow, I know where they are. The Careers are in that building. They are on the top of the cliff. No. They're not there yet. But they will be. They're going there, just like we're going there. I don't know how I know this, but I do. There are things that the wolf in me knows that the human part of me can never understand.

In our morph forms, Coal and I travel quickly together through the dark. We rush towards the rugged cliffs, running with all of our might. We are there in practically no time at all.

Coal morphs back while I sniff around. I know that there is an entrance to…something. I can't put my finger on what it is, but I know that it will get us to the top of that cliff. In my search, I pick up whiffs of Neptune and Loyla. Every wolf-mutt has a distinct scent. Humans do too, for that matter, but they're not nearly as strong. I pick up the scents of some human males, but I haven't been around D.C., Sapphire or Reggie enough to tell if these scents are theirs. My human half uses logic and deduces that they must be. Who else could it be? Everyone else is dead. The smells tell me this: my instinct was right. The Careers are here.

I continue sniffing, deciding to follow the scents of the Careers. We are here to find them. We are here to end this. Coal walks behind me. And then, I find it. It is a cave. I put my head inside and sniff around. The Careers came through here. "Come on," I tell Coal. We head inside together.

Coal mutters a District Twelve swear word and morphs again. "It's dark," he says in the gravelly voice of a purebred in morph. My own wolf ears twitch at the sound. There is something about us wolf-mutts. We don't like to talk while in morph, especially purebreds. But there is something about this place that is so unusual that even this idiosyncrasy of Coal's speaking seems appropriate.

We walk along in this cave. Ever so slowly, the cave floor slopes upward. The path takes us in a not quite perfect circle, ever rising to the top. There is always a floor, always a ceiling. Sometimes the path is only wide enough for one of us to fit through. Sometimes it is large enough to fit four people walking side by side. We continue to walk up and up and up. And then, things begin to shake.

The earthquake rocks and rattles the entire cave. The walls begin to crack, and pieces of them fall down. Coal yelps when a stone hits him on the back. We begin to run, as the very ceiling is cracking into bits. It collapses after us as we run, and in the midst of all of the rumbling I think that I hear the sound of a cannon. Then, as suddenly as it began, the shaking stops. Coal and I glance at one another. "Someone died," he mumbles gruffly. I nod at him.

We climb higher. Sometimes, we reach places where the floor has crumbled away in the earthquake, and we have to jump over the gaps. Sometimes, we reach places where the ceiling has caved in. At these places, we climb on top of the piles of stone and lift our bodies up through the holes, more quickly rising to the top of this cliff.

We reach one point where the stone has caved in, and out from beneath the pile juts a hand. Coal begins to move the stones away. When he is finished, I can tell that the body belongs to D.C. The District Two boy's face is unrecognizable, smashed in by the fallen rocks. But there is one thing that identifies him even still: he is wearing a sash of knives. With a shrug, I remove this sash from his corpse and put it on myself. I can use this. I'll probably need it soon, too.

The walk through the cave drags on. We've been in here for hours. Finally, we reach the top, and the exit. We are inside the great building.

The domed ceiling arcs above us and the windows are as huge as I had guessed, but there is no time for admiring the scenery. I hear another cannon. A light from outside one of the windows catches my eye: a fire. Coal morphs back into his human form and looks at me. I nod at him. We know it: the Careers want to finish this tonight too.

Coal and I climb out of a window and onto the flat roof of the building. Down on the grass beneath the building, the Careers have built a fire. Reggie sleeps while leaning against a tree. Neptune is lying on the ground near the fire. He is also asleep. Sapphire lies not far away from Neptune, but Sapphire's chest isn't moving. Sapphire's chest has an arrow protruding from it.

Loyla suddenly runs out of some nearby trees. When she notices Sapphire's dead body, she seems distressed. She growls and morphs. She rummages around in one their backpacks and pulls out several canteens. Morphing back, she opens them and dumps them on the fire. The fire goes out.

Then, in a sudden rage, she grabs Neptune by the collar and shakes him awake. "You!" she growls. Coal and I both wince, able to tell that she is barely controlling her wolf half. "You did this! First Dream, and now Sapphire!" she roars.

Neptune looks surprised. "What the shell are you talking about?" He frowns. "Sapphire, what the shell is she…" he stops when he glances at Sapphire's body. "Oh cod! Sapphire's dead!"

"Yes," Loyla growls impatiently, "and you killed him. You waited until I left to pee, and then you killed him!"

"No, I didn't," Neptune snaps back.

"Well then who did?" Loyla responds angrily. "The half-wit?" she gestures to the male tribute from District Ten.

"Maybe those other two showed up. Six and Twelve. It could have been them, right?" Neptune replies.

Loyla shakes her head. "If it were them, do you think that _you_ would still be alive?"

Neptune frowns at her. "Why would _I_ kill him? He's on our side! He could have helped us defeat those other two, and if he didn't die doing that, _then_ I would kill him. I wouldn't end him before using him for everything he was worth. Do you think I'm insane?"

Loyla merely growls at Neptune's words.

Coal taps me on the arm and points. Over by the tree, Reggie has awoken and begun to dig through the backpacks. Now, he pulls out several weapons and carefully advances toward Loyla and Neptune. The thing that is most surprising about his actions is that he no longer appears to be a half-wit. He looks cunning and triumphant as he throws a small axe and watches it embed into Neptune's back. The cannon sounds, and Loyla yelps in surprise and drops Neptune's dead body.

"It was awfully foolish of you all to let me carry all of the weapons," Reggie says sinisterly. "You all thought that I was an idiot. But no, the idiots were you! You underestimated me. Everyone underestimated me! I did it on purpose. I pretended to be a half-wit so that everyone _would_ underestimate me. I'm only surprised that my ruse lasted this long." He chuckles. "Now come, Loyla. You are the only one left. Prove to everyone what you Career tributes can really do."

I flinch. We call them Careers, but it is a derogatory term that no one in their right mind would say to one of their faces.

Loyla responds as expected. She growls, morphs, and lunges at Reggie. They struggle for a while. The whole time, Reggie is laughing. The two of them roll on the ground. Loyla growls and snaps at Reggie's face. Reggie cackles and stabs at Loyla's stomach with a sword. They continue to roll until they have almost rolled off of the cliff. Finally Loyla stands.

"You are finished," she growls in the guttural, feral tongue of a morphed wolf-mutt. Reggie laughs as she goes to push him from the cliff. He thrusts the sword right through her gut at the same exact moment that she shoves him off of the edge. BOOM! Loyla collapses face down on the ground, dead. I can hear Reggie's laughing up until the moment his cannon also sounds.

I look at Coal. We both know what this means. I blink before pointing my spear at myself. "I made you a promise," I say stoically.

Coal nods. "Yes, you did. And you told me at the lake that if I decided that my death would be the best thing for Karina, then you would do me the favor of bringing it about."

I shake my head. "No, Coal. I'm not going to do it. Your mate needs you. She loves you, and you love her. I'm not going to let you die tonight. Out of the two of us, you're the one with the better reason to continue living."

Coal shakes his head and his face twists into a painful frown. "I think that's for me to decide, Wolfgang," he mutters. He lifts his pick axe in his hands and turns it around so that the sharp point faces him. "She'll be able to move on in ways that I never will. This is for the best."

I drop my spear and shout, "Coal, don't!"

He murmurs, "Good-bye, Wolfgang." Then he falls on his axe, and the final cannon sounds in the Seventh Quarter Quell.

The tears are falling before I can stop them. I can hear the sound of the helicopter that is coming to take me away. I can hear the announcement of congratulations on my becoming the victor of the one-hundred seventy-fifth Hunger Games. I raise my head to the sky as the sun begins to peek over the horizon. And then, I hear my own mournful howl, echoing off of the stone of the building and throughout the rest of the arena. It is the very last sound in the Seventh Quarter Quell.

* * *

**Author: And so, the Games have come to an end. Keep reading. I still have another chapter up my sleeve.**


	17. No Ordinary Ending

I sit on the stage with the host. He's interviewing me, the victor of this year's Hunger Games. "So, Wolfgang Canis, how does it feel to be victor?"

"Surreal," I answer plainly.

"Is that all?" he asks.

I nod. "Pretty much. Yesterday, I was fighting for my life. And now, I don't have to anymore. It may take me a while to get used to it again."

"This has been the shortest Hunger Games that we've had in a while. It only lasted for five days. But my, if it wasn't the most exciting one that we've had in quite a while as well! Let's watch some highlights, shall we?"

The film begins to play. I watch Jenny Gizmo explode again. I watch my knife embed into Octane's thigh. I watch her throw it back. I watch her die because of the infection that the wound caused. I watch Lila get bit by a snake as she pulls a pot from a black backpack. I watch Barley collect the poke berries and poison those other tributes. I watch Barley ironically die from a poisonous fruit himself, two days later. I watch Seamus leave our alliance and unzip the backpack that contains his death. I watch Reggie stab Dream in the temple in the very first action that proved he wasn't a half-wit. I watch Millie get eaten by the Loch Ness Monster. I watch Reggie stab Sapphire in the heart with one of the District One boy's own arrows. I watch D.C. get buried in a shower of rocks. I watch Reggie throw an axe into Neptune's back. I watch Reggie and Loyla's struggle that ends with both of their deaths. And then, I watch Coal fall on his own pick axe and leave me to be the victor of the Seventh Quarter Quell. Finally, I watch myself howl in sorrow.

It disturbs me. These are the clips that they consider highlights? Everyone's death? I frown subconsciously.

"What a glorious moment!" the host says with a smile. "That howl of victory always moves me." He brings his hand and rests it over his heart.

I repress a snort. _"Howl of victory? Is that what those fools call it?"_

"So, tell me what you were thinking at that exact moment," the host turns to me.

I sit and stare at him. I'd probably get in trouble for saying what I really thought. So, I make something up. "I was just thinking how unworthy I am. I don't deserve to win. So many others had so many better reasons to live. Seamus had a family to support. Barley had a father to save. And Coal had… Coal had something that no wolf-mutt ever takes lightly. He had something that most of us would die for. And die, he did." It turns out that my words are not a lie after all.

The host nods and his pink powder wig wiggles a bit. "Yes, love is a very powerful thing," the host says with some cheap imitation of sadness. Then he grins. "However, you have a good reason to live too. As you might recall, an enemy of yours sent you here. You swore that if you were crowned victor of the Hunger Games, you would return to District Six and seek your revenge on Ereed Tys. Tell me now, how do you plan on doing that? Will you flaunt your newfound wealth in front of him? Will you steal that girl of his and bring about his worst fear? Tell me Wolfgang, what is your plan?"

I shake my head. "I've had enough fighting to last a lifetime," I answer. "I don't need my petty revenge anymore. Besides, the best revenge will be this: I won the Hunger Games, and he is the one who sent me here. He is the reason that I won the Hunger Games. He will forever loath himself for that. I don't have to do a thing."

The host seems unimpressed with my answer. "Well, you'll have a great time celebrating, I'm sure," he interjects.

"Celebrating what?" I ask.

An awkward silence ensues, and the interview is over.

* * *

When I return to District Six, my brothers, father and uncle are all very happy to see me. I am greeted with hugs and happy howls. I happily hug them back. I am glad to be back, but I feel so unworthy of it all. What gives me the right to live when so many others have died?

Back at home, I pull out the "Myths, Legends, and Tales" book. They let me keep it. Tomorrow, I move into Victors' Village. Next year, I'll have to train a male tribute from my district. Right now, all I want to do is forget about the Hunger Games. But life in Panem always seems to give us the opposite of what we want. I will be involved with the Games for the rest of my life. It's a horrible irony. It is an annoying contradiction. It is a horrid trap that torments my nature as a wolf-mutt. But what choice do I have? None whatsoever. Twice the Districts have rebelled against the Capitol. Twice the Capitol has reconquered them. Rebellion is futile. I must do what I must.

* * *

It has been almost a year since I have won the Hunger Games. I haven't taken a mate, and I don't think that I ever will. I could not risk having to train my children in the Games. Therefore, I will have no children. I will never mate. Life alone is hard for a wolf-mutt; we're meant to be in packs. It will be hard. However, I will face the lesser of two hardships.

The Capitol escort stands on the stage and dips her hand into the girls' reaping ball. I sit on a chair on the stage and wait. When the girl's name is called, she comes forward and stands on the stage. She starts to cry, and I can't blame her.

Chortle dips her hand into the boys' reaping ball next. When she opens the paper, she looks surprised. "Well, this is an odd occurrence. I seem to have drawn the same person two years in a row." She then smiles. "The male tribute for the one-hundred seventy-sixth Hunger Games is… Ereed Tys!"

My head snaps up in surprise. Ereed blanches and freezes in his place. A peacekeeper, his own father, has to carry him up to the stage. Both father and son seem absolutely terrified. I have to train Ereed Tys to fight in the Hunger Games. For me to be able to train him, he has to trust me. I can hear the cannon already.

~ The End ~


End file.
